


The Wild Card

by DecemberCamie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cardverse, Gen, Magic, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-12-04
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-13 13:26:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 60,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DecemberCamie/pseuds/DecemberCamie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred is a normal Hearts citizen, but there's something strange about him. Something off. Could it be that he doesn't belong in the Hearts Kingdom? But that's impossible...right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Uploaded from FF.net
> 
> I don't own Hetalia

Alfred Jones was a strange child.

Everyone in the Hearts Kingdom knew this, including the Royal Deck. Yet no one was able to pinpoint exactly why this was true; in all cases, Alfred seemed like a normal, loyal Hearts citizen. He worked normal hours, he ate what was expected of him, followed the curfew, did the proper amount of time in the armed forces that was mandatory per year, and generally did what was required of him. However, there was still something off, something not right about him; it was almost as if he did not belong here, in Hearts.

But, that was impossible. You only lived in Hearts if you belonged in Hearts; this was true of all Four Kingdoms. If you were a Spade, you lived in Spades, a Club resided in Clubs, and a Diamond stayed in Diamonds. If you didn't belong in that Kingdom, you were probably visiting, or on an errand of some kind. No one stayed if they did not belong there, and it was easy to tell where you belonged since everyone had the Tattoo. Of course, your Tattoo could change, but this was a very rare occurrence which automatically resulted in banishment. Alfred's Tattoo had not changed because there were Numbers in the Royal Deck for that. They kept tabs on who belonged and who did not.

So, it did not matter that no one could see Alfred's Tattoo, especially since Tattoos were often in places that were difficult to spot or see because of the heavy clothing Hearts wore. If Alfred was still in Hearts, his Tattoo was a Heart, and he did not belong anywhere else, regardless of how other "suit-like" he acted or behaved.

Case closed.

-o0o-

"Cards are war, in disguise of a sport."  
Charles Lamb


	2. Hearts Castle Stable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploaded from FF.net
> 
> Information I feel that is needed to understand the story is at the bottom of the chapter, and is represented by a *. 
> 
> I do not own Hetalia.

Hearts Castle Stable

"Alfred!" A voice cried, sounding alarmed. In a far-off corner, a teenager with gold blond hair and clear blue eyes looked up from his position on the hay covered floor.

"Yeah? What is it Roger?" He asked, washing a beautiful brown horse that lay on the ground in front of him.

"The, uh, Queen is here." Roger said nervously. Alfred stopped moving and faced the small apprentice, an uncharacteristic frown on his face.

"Kiku's here?" Roger winced at the familiarity at which the other used the Queens's first name.

"Yes, sir. He's here. Your Majesty said he wishes to see you."

"Doesn't he have a meeting or something today? What's he doing here?"

"I don't…" The smaller boy shook his head. Alfred sighed.

"Alright, might as well bring him in then since he's already here."

Roger nodded and disappeared through the double wooden door, leaving Alfred alone with his thoughts. Tired, he leaned back on his heels and ran a hand through his messy bangs, causing the horse he was cleaning to whinny in complaint at being abandoned. Alfred laughed and reached over to pet her, just as the doors flew open. Roger re-entered, looking so nervous that he almost appeared to be sick, and behind him followed a small Japanese man wearing a light, flowing maroon robe. In his right hand he held a small bouquet of dark red flowers, the Eternal Implement* of the Queen of Hearts. As the two approached, Alfred slowly stood up and brushed his pants free from dirt and hay. Then he straitened and beamed at the Queen, who watched him expectantly. Roger, on the other hand, almost seemed ready to pass out from shock at being in the presence of a Royal.

"Nice to see you again, Your Majesty," Alfred said politely, dipping his head. "What can I do for you?"

"Alfred, a pleasure as always," The Queen offered him a faint smile. "I wish to speak to you about something-" his dark brown eyes flitted to Roger, who was standing frozen, and then back to Alfred. "-alone, if I may be so rude."

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure. Roger," The boy jerked at the sound of his name. "Do you mind if I speak to the Queen alone for a moment? I'm sure it won't take long."

"O-of course!" Roger squeaked, turning as red. "Your Majesty," he made a hasty bow towards the Queen and scuttled away, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"I think you scared him a little there, Kiku," Alfred said, chuckling.

"Hai, he seemed very nervous," Kiku frowned at the shutting door. "Did I do something to offend him?"

"You didn't do anything," Alfred grinned at his friend. "The kid's just not used to being around high ranking Royalty such as yourself." Kiku made a face.

"I wish you would stop calling me Royalty," He walked over to the doorway that led outside to the grounds and stared out at the sunset. "We have known each other since long before I ever became Queen." He slowly lowered himself onto a bench that rested against the stable wall.

"Technically, you were already in the running for Queen when I first met you." Alfred joined Kiku and watched the dark red colors bleed into the sky. The sunsets in the Hearts Kingdom were always red, never orange or gold like it probably was in the Diamonds Kingdom. Sometimes Alfred wondered what it would be like to travel to the different Kingdoms, each so different from Hearts, but he knew that it would be a wasted trip. He would never be able to find a home in another Kingdom like he had here with Kiku and his friends. "Besides, that's why I call you by your first name and not by your status or title."

"That is true," Kiku fingered the flowers in his hand, running a thumb over a dark petal. "And that is also why I enjoy your company so much. You don't treat me like I'm special; you treat me like you always have."

"Well, you've always been Kiku Honda to me," Alfred admitted. "Even after you became part of the Royal Deck, you were never 'The Queen' or 'Japan'. You were still my best friend, regardless of what you now stood for."

"Thank you, Alfred." Kiku reached over and squeezed Alfred's hand once before letting go. Alfred grinned in reply.

"No problem. Anyways, why are you here? I thought you said there was this big meeting thing you had to attend today."

"Ah, well, yes, the meeting was today." Kiku purposefully avoided Alfred's gaze.

"And…? Did you go?"

"Yes, I did."

"'Did'? Don't those things last all day?"

"Normally, they do. But today we finished early." Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"They never end meetings early, you told me that yourself." Kiku remained silent. "Don't tell me you snuck out or something before it ended." More silence. "Oh, god, you did! You snuck out! I can't believe this!" Kiku abruptly stood up, offended at being accused of such a thing.

"I did not! It was Feliciano-chan's idea, Ludwig-san and I just followed his example!" Alfred laughed.

"So Feliciano, the guy who can never come up with a bright idea to save his life, was actually able to convince you and Ludwig, the two most refined and realistic people I have ever met, to abandon an important meeting right in the middle of it? Oh, man, Kiku, this is hysterical! I would have never believed this!"

"Nothing was going on, we were just discussing borders and new battle strategies," Kiku nervously bit his lip. "You don't think the Officers will mind, do you?"

"Nah, they were probably just as bored as you were." Alfred grinned up at him. "Sit back down, you already did it, so there's no point in going back." He patted the empty bench beside him and Kiku sat down again.

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Alfred asked, watching the dark outlines of a flock of birds against the sky. "'Cause, no offense, but you could've told me that in front of Roger."

"I like talking to you alone when there are no ears to listen to our conversation and no eyes to see our reactions. And, no, I wanted to ask you about something else."

"Okay, shoot." Alfred closed his eyes and relaxed against the wall.

"I wanted to know if you would like to go to the Alhliða Gathering** with me this year." Alfred's eyes flew open and he stared at his friend, surprised. "I know you like meeting new people, and I think this would be a great experience for you. In fact, I find it hard to believe that you have never gone before."

"But, I'm not allowed to go anywhere else besides Hearts, remember? The last time I went to another Kingdom, I ended up punching that Braginski guy in the face…and then the last King of Hearts and the King of Clubs forbade me from ever traveling again."

"Yes, but Braginski-san is now Russia-san, and the new King of Clubs. He was a candidate the last time you saw him, but he was chosen by his Kingdom's Eternal Implement, and was crowned ruler. Therefore, the King's threat is no longer standing, that is unless Russia-san decided to renew it, which he did not. Also, the Gathering is always in No-Man's-Land***, no one can banish you from going there." Alfred sat up straighter, and his eyes lit up with excitement.

"So, that means I can go without being punished?"

"Hai, I believe so. I doubt Ludwig-san will deny you from traveling with us; he is your friend too, after all." Alfred laughed out loud in joy, and threw his arms around Kiku in a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you! Thank you!" he cried, tightly squeezing the smaller boy.

"Alfred!" Kiku gasped. "I-can't-breathe!" Alfred immediately released him.

"Oh, god, I am so sorry! Are you okay?" he asked, panicked as Kiku sucked in as much air as he could into his lungs.

"I am fine," he said finally. "But you must learn to control your strength, Alfred. Is that not what training in the military is for?" Alfred smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guess. But I've never been good at following the rules."

"That is true." Kiku sighed and shook his head. "Does that mean you will attend the Gathering with me?"

"Yes, of course! As long as Ludwig says its okay, I'd be happy to go! Will you ask him for me, though? If I ask him, he'll probably give me that calculating stare of his that always makes me feel like I've done something wrong."

"Normally you have done something wrong," Kiku reminded him patiently. "But, yes, I will ask him. He will not say no though; he likes you, as does Feliciano-chan and I."

"Thanks, Kiku. That means a lot to me." He hugged Kiku again, but this time more gently. "You have no idea how happy this makes me. This Gathering is going to be amazing!"

-o0o-

"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game."  
Voltaire

-o0o-

Translations according to Google:

(Icelandic)Alhliða- universal

(Japanese) Hai- that's how the word "yes" sounds in Japanese when spoken out loud.

-o0o-

Background Information (Sorry for the lengthy explanations):

*The Eternal Implements (also known as EI's or Imps) are magical objects that are specific to each Kingdoms' King, Queen, and Jack, and have special mysterious properties that only their owner has access too. In addition, it is the Eternal Implements that choose the next rulers of the Kingdoms out of the candidates, and not the previous King, Queen or Jack. Jokers do not have Eternal Implements. Examples of Eternal Implements: Kiku's flowers, Arthur's clock, Elizaveta's sword, etc. 

** The Alhliða Gathering is a Holiday where anyone who is able to travels to a town in the middle of No-Man's-Land. Everyone wears white, so it is impossible to tell who is from which Kingdom, and they basically just celebrate being alive. It's a day to forget differences and to accept each other for who they are and not for what Tattoo they bear.

*** No-Man's-Land is a very long strip of territory that spreads throughout the Suit World and divides the 4 Kingdoms. As a result, none of the 4 Kingdoms' borders touch each other, and anyone is allowed travel through the territory because it does not belong to any specific Suit. However, it is often called the "Joker's Territory" because that is where the two are seen the most.


	3. No-Man's-Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploaded from FF.net.
> 
> So much detail in this chapter! Hope you don't mind long paragraphs.
> 
> I do not own Hetalia.

No-Man's-Land

Alfred was good at many things. One of the few things he truly enjoyed doing though was riding horses, and his favorite was a beautiful Dapple grey filly that he had helped raise when he had started working at the stables. Alfred had named the horse Artemis after the old legends, and for his 13th birthday, Alfred's boss, who loved Alfred like a son, gave Artemis to him for free. Alfred was allowed to keep her in the stables with the rest of the horses, and she would be taken care of in every way, with no expense on Alfred's part other than he had to continue working there. But Alfred didn't mind, why would he? He had the best job in the entire Kingdom, and he most defiantly had the greatest, fastest, most loyal horse of all four Suits!

After Kiku left the stables, Alfred immediately ran over to Artemis and grabbed the nearest reins and saddle he could find. Hastily, he strapped the buckles around her stomach and lifted the headpiece into her mouth. Artemis whinnied slightly at the roughness that Alfred was preparing her, but he ignored her, quickly shoving on boots and grabbing his jacket.

"Roger, I'm going out!" he yelled, not bothering to see if the boy had heard or not before he climbed onto Artemis and steered her out of the stable.

Alfred's boss might have come to regret his decision to give the teenager Artemis as time passed. Artemis was a gorgeous horse, lustrous grey in color with dark black dots speckled across her broad back and her long legs. Outside when the weather was nice, her coat would shine silver from the sun's rays, and at night, she glowed in the moonlight. At the same time, she easily blended in with stone buildings and the dark trunks of trees if needed. When she ran, she was as quick and graceful; one of the fastest horses in the Royal Stable, if not the fastest. Alfred had trained his horse well, and by now the two were attuned to each other in movements and personality; Alfred would rarely use any other horse, and Artemis was stubborn when it came to allowing other Hearts citizens to ride her.

Right now they were flying across the Hearts Castle grounds, running at such a speed that from far away, Artemis was nothing more than a grey smudge against the background. Alfred leaned low on his horse's back, pressing his face into her soft main and narrowing his eyes against the wind. Thank god Artemis was used to running for long distances on end, or else this would be a difficult journey; Alfred's destination was so far away from the Castle that he just might end up staying out all night. He didn't really mind though, it was worth it. He needed to retrieve something before he left with Kiku for the Gathering, and it was not an option to leave it behind for such a long period of time.

Artemis finally reached the boarder of the Hearts Kingdom just as the moon was starting to rise in the starry night sky. Alfred pulled on her reins as they approached a tiny stream, forcing the energetic horse to stop. In the small amount of time Artemis rested, Alfred jumped off her back and rubbed her neck in slow, comforting circles. He stared across the stream of water at a wall of dense, thick trees. On the other side of the stream was No-Man's-Land; an uncharitable plot of land that separated the Kingdoms and was home of the mysterious Jokers, Prussia and Sealand. Alfred often wondered how the two lived there since the geography of No-Man's-Land was constantly changing; a person could go to bed surrounded by a forest to wake up the next day and find themselves at the base of a mountain. Of course, the borders of No-Man's-Land never changed, just its physical features. It was rumored that magical creatures of all kinds lived hidden inside of the territory, but very few were brave enough to venture into the strange land to see if this was true or not. Alfred, on the other hand, was the opposite; he was one of the dumb people to actually explore No-Man's-Land and to keep coming back time after time.

After Artemis had rested enough, Alfred led her forward on foot by guiding her with the reins. They weaved in and out of trees for a while before the trunks started to thin out, and eventually a small opening appeared. Alfred visibly relaxed at the sight, and sighed, relieved. It was correct that No-Man's-Land was easy to get lost in, but this was never true for Alfred. This spot always appeared sooner or later after he passed the border, even though he had only started to make these pilgrimages a few months ago. They stepped through the breach and a clearing was revealed, a patch of dark green grass surrounding a beautiful, quiet waterfall. The scene was bathed in a strange blue glow from a light layer of mist that covered the landscape, giving the place a mysterious feel to it. The waterfall flowed into a pond, and glowing balls of light no larger than a fireflies floated freely in the air on the edges of the water.

As soon as he appeared, the balls of light headed towards Alfred and his horse. Alfred knew that they were fairies* from previous visits, and saw their tiny fragile bodies define as they drew closer. The fairies loved Alfred for some reason unknown to him; they were always interested in playing with his gold hair and touching his red Hearts clothing. Sometimes they even dared to perch on his nose and stare into his eyes, or sit in his hand to feel the calluses and curves of his palm. Often they tried talking to him, but their alien language was impossible to understand; they were not speaking any version of German, Japanese, Italian or Hoppípollan** that he knew.

"Hi, guys," Alfred said as the fairies gathered around him. The fairies attempted to speak to him, using gestures and body movement, but to no avail. Instead they pulled on his clothes, trying to drag him towards the water.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Jeesh, calm down." He rolled his eyes. "Artemis, eat whatever you want." He called back to the horse but she ignored him, already indulging on the fresh blades of grass.

As he reached the edge of the pond, he knelt down on the grass and leaned over to stare into its depth. The fairies flew around him nervously when he started to roll up his sleeves, a determined expression on his face. Cautiously he dipped his arm into the water, not in the least bit surprised that its temperature was warm. His arm was in elbow deep when a smile lit up his face. With a triumphant shout, Alfred lurched out of the water and landed flat on his back in the damp grass. Breathing heavily, he turned his head to stare at the small, gold object that he had pulled from the water's depths.

It was a pocket watch. Not a very big one- right now, at least it wasn't- but large enough to cover the entire palm of his hand. The clock was made entirely of gold, though at the moment it hardly weighed anything, and had tiny sapphire jewels implanted in the black arrows that pointed to the time. The numbers looked as if they had been etched onto the clock's face with a fine point pen, long, curly, and with distinct style. A thin but strong chain was connected at its tip, snaking its way around Alfred's clasped hand and coiling on the ground behind him. The shape of the frame of the clock was the most interesting part to Alfred; it looked almost like a teardrop, but instead of smoothly curving at the bottom, there was an indent, making it come across like an upside down heart. Alfred knew this symbol all too well; he had seen it almost every day of his life. It was a spade, from the Spades Kingdom.

This was a Spades clock.

The fairies anxiously flew around Alfred, worried that he had somehow hurt himself. One of them gently touched his cheek, and her cold hand instantly jerked him out of his thoughts. He slowly sat up, bringing the Spades clock closer to his eyes to examine it for the millionth time. This strange watch never failed to amaze Alfred, even though he had found it nearly six months ago on his first trip to No-Man's-Land. It was in this very clearing that he had discovered the strange treasure, and he had kept it here ever since for protection and fear of losing or someone stealing it.

Spades clocks were powerful objects to their Kingdom, just like clovers were to Clubs, and diamonds were to Diamonds. Alfred never really understood how this was true, but he had heard rumors that Spades clocks could be used as potential weapons. Alfred was not a Spade; he was a Heart. There was no way that the pocket watch could ever work for him like it probably would for whomever it belonged too.

But, still.

Strange things happened to Alfred whenever he was with the Spades pocket watch. For one thing, the clock had the ability to change its size and weight. At first, Alfred could not figure out why this was; he spent hours trying to take it apart to no avail. Nothing he did could harm it in any way, shape or form. It was only until about two weeks after he first saw the clock when the first visions came.

The watch had been really tiny that day, no bigger than a bug and so weightless that it almost felt like it wasn't there at all. Alfred had been swinging the clock back and forth in a hypnotizing way from its chain when it had started to glow. In the beginning it was a comforting soft blue hue, but then it turned into blinding white light, impossible to look without spots forming across Alfred's vision. Alfred had been scared out of his wits, and had attempted to stop the light by covering the face of the clock with his hand.

That was when everything got weird. The forest scenery around him changed, morphing into an old village street with bustling carts and groups of running children running everywhere. Alfred recognized the market place; this was where he had first met Kiku.

He watched, shocked as his own memory play out in front of him. There was his 5 year old self, playing tag with the other children and finding a quiet Japanese boy hiding in a corner all by himself. Alfred re-lived himself trying to convince Kiku to come play with other kids, and he laughed at himself at the stubbornness in which little Alfred refused to leave Kiku alone. The vision ended as quickly as it had come, disappearing the moment little Alfred and little Kiku became friends, bringing the older Alfred back to the lonely forest clearing, thoroughly shocked.

The clock didn't stop there; Alfred continued to be magically transported back in time, to the birthday when Artemis had become his, to the moment he had punched that Braginski jerk, to the time when he had first seen the clock. He even experienced events that he had never been a part of, like seeing how and when Kiku was chosen as the next Queen of Hearts. Whenever this happened, the pocket watch was small and completely lightweight, but it always turned back to its normal size after the vision was done. So, what happened when the clock was bigger, and heavier? Alfred wondered.

Alfred got his answer three months later. The clock had been bigger than his hand and so heavy that he could barely lift it off the ground. When the light appeared and he touched the clock's hands, he saw himself, Kiku, Ludwig and Feliciano on a picnic outside eating pasta, wurst and other wonderful foods. Alfred had no recollection of this memory, strangely enough. A few days later, Alfred was invited to lunch with the Royals. The vision from the clock was playing out right in front of him, so that meant that the clock could not only transport him to the past, but also bring him to the future, to see events that had not occurred yet.***

Alfred fingered the beautiful gold pocket watch in his hands, turning it from side to side. The clock looked about normal size, so it probably wouldn't bring him any visions today. Still, he wasn't about to leave it here for a week while he went off with Kiku. Someone could find it and take it away, and as highly unlikely as that was, he wasn't comfortable leaving it here. He sighed tiredly, hoping that the clock would be easy to hide once he brought it back with him; he had not show nor told anyone else about his trips to the mysterious waterfall, and he wasn't planning on it either. He had a strange feeling that the Royal Deck would confiscate it from him if they ever found it.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here," said an unexpected voice from behind Alfred's back.

Alfred whirled around, hiding the clock behind him as he turned to see a tall, white haired teenager standing a little distance off, leaning on a tree. The stranger smirked, his red eyes shining out of the shadows.

"Hello, Wild." He greeted in German.

-o0o-

"Has fortune dealt you some bad cards? Then let wisdom make you a good gamester."  
Francis Quarles

-o0o-

Translations according to Google:

(Greek) Artemis- goddess of the moon and the hunt

-o0o-

Background Information:

*Fairies are actually rarely seen in any of the 4 Kingdoms, though they can be spotted in the Spades Kingdom from time to time. Not many people live to see fairies because they do not like being around "civilized" areas, such as towns, villages, markets, or the Castles. For most of the time they stay in No-Man's-Land, away from humans. They tend to gravitate towards magical places, objects, and humans, which is the only reason they ever leave No-Man's-Land.

**All of the people in the Hearts Kingdom speak Japanese, German and Italian. Each Kingdom has at least more than two official languages according to their rulers, and everyone everywhere speaks Hoppípollan, the universal language of their world.

***For clarification, the Spades pocket watch allows Alfred to see the past when it is small and lightweight; when the clock is bigger and heavier, Alfred can see the future. This is because the past is easier to recall than it is to bring out visions of events of the future. People are constantly remembering memories and events, so it takes the clock less energy to store and show them to Alfred. Predictions on the other hand are difficult to define and can always change, therefore the clock needs to use more of its magical powers. Predictions take up more "storage room" inside of the clock, forcing it to become bigger and heavier when this happens.


	4. No-Man's-Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploaded from FF.net
> 
> As for who Prussia is in relation to Germany, they are brothers. Prussia was originally one of the candidates for the Hearts Royal Deck, but was rejected by all of the Eternal Implements. Shortly after this, his Tattoo changed from a Heart to a Joker symbol, and he was ostracized from the Kingdom. No one except Ludwig knew what became of him because in Hearts he was known as Gilbert, but when he became a Joker his title became "Prussia". It's a similar situation with Sealand.
> 
> I do not own Hetalia.

No-Man's-Land

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." said an unexpected voice from behind Alfred's back.

Alfred whirled around, hiding the Spades pocket watch behind him as he turned to see a tall, white haired teenager standing a little distance off, leaning on a tree. The stranger smirked, his red eyes shining out of the shadows.

"Hello, Wild." He greeted in German.

Alfred stood up, refusing to show any sign of fear or surprise on his face. A few feet away, Artemis looked up from at the voice of the second person, her ears pointing strait in the air.

"Who are you?" Alfred asked angrily while the fairies around him frantically disappeared off into the trees, abandoning him. Alfred inwardly panicked at this; why would the fairies leave? Weren't they used to people traveling through their land? Why were they so frightened of this one person?

"Oh, you mean you haven't heard of the Awesome Prussia, one of the Jokers of No-Man's-Land?" Prussia slowly walked towards Alfred, looking him up and down with penetrating blood colored eyes. As he neared, Alfred's hand automatically clenched around the Spade clock, determined to keep it out of sight of the strange creature standing before him.

"You're a Joker?" Alfred's stomach tightened in worry; no one ever spoke to the Jokers, only the Kings and Queens knew what they looked like. How could Alfred protect himself from something he had no knowledge about? Casually he reached for a knife hidden in his front pocket; he would be ready if this Prussia guy ever decided to make a move.

"Yes! An Awesome Joker, if you want to be more specific." The Joker laughed obnoxiously with his heads thrown backwards, hands on his hips. Alfred stared at him, not sure if Prussia normally acted like this, or if he was just playing with Alfred so that he would let his guard down. If the first was true, he would be very surprised. He had always had the idea that Jokers were supposed to be creepy, unnatural beings with otherworldly powers that could kill with a single glance in your direction.*

What he had not expected, however, was a lively, loud teenager with ash grey hair and an actual tail- seriously, what was that thing? He was even wearing somewhat normal clothing; a black jacket inscribed with the red Joker insignia and a dull maroon t-shirt with dark pants tucked into thick boots. In addition to the tail, which somehow moved by the way, Prussia had two weird ear things sticking out of his hair. Or at least, Alfred assumed they were ears. He didn't want to think what else they might be.

"I've waited a long time to meet you, Alfred Jones." Prussia grinned at him. "I've always wanted to know what it would be like to meet a Wild Card." Alfred frowned.

"Why are you calling me that? I'm a Hearts citizen, nothing else; I don't even know what you mean by 'Wild Card'." Prussia smiled knowingly at him, causing goose bumps to form on Alfred's skin.

"How can you be a Heart if you don't have a Tattoo, Alfred?"

Alfred's face turned deathly white, and he felt his knees go weak.

"How do you know that?" Alfred demanded. "I've never told anyone that, not even Kiku."

"I'm a Joker, kid," Prussia rolled his eyes. "I know these kinds of things. I also know that since you don't have a Tattoo, you are without a doubt a Wild Card." Alfred's fear instantly disappeared, instead anger and annoyance took its place; who did this guy think he was? Alfred could be whatever the heck he wanted; he didn't need some crazy Joker to tell him who he was!

"What are you talking about? What do you mean 'without a doubt'? You can't just suddenly appear and tell me who I am! You can't accuse me of being something without even telling me why or how! And for the last and final time, I am a Hearts citizen! I've never heard of this Wild Card thing you're talking about-"

Prussia strode forward, anger flashing in his eyes and Alfred flinched, prepared for some type of attack from the older teenager. Instead, Prussia yanked up is left sleeve and shoved his arm under Alfred's nose, forcing the younger boy to glance at it.

"Look," Prussia growled. "Do you see what that is?" Alfred stared down at Prussia's arm and blinked in surprise when he saw a dark purple marking the size of a coin etched into the pale skin. It was the Joker's symbol; a curly line with an arrow at its end attached to the bottom of a circle, and on the top of the circle was two triangular ears, making the whole shape look like a cat head with a devil tail sticking out of its end. This was Prussia's Tattoo.

"This…it's your Tattoo." To say that Alfred was surprised would be an understatement. No one ever showed anyone where their Tattoo was, that is, unless you trusted the person completely; a person's Tattoo was considered a weak point, although it had never been proven.

"Exactly," Prussia said bitterly, and released his clothes, letting his jacket re-cover the mark. "My Tattoo. You don't understand what it's like, Alfred, to have a Tattoo. A Tattoo can be a blessing as much as it can be a curse. Where you live, which Suit you are loyal to, and who your friends are all based upon one simple symbol. It can force you to leave your home, to abandon your family, and start your entire life over. But you," he pointed a finger in Alfred's face. "You don't have the Tattoo. You do not have this, this thing determining your life; you are free. So don't you dare accuse me of telling you who you are because only you, a Wild Card, have the liberty to choose who you want to be. A Wild Card is someone without a Tattoo, the only person in the entire history of Suits that actually has the ability to decide which Kingdom they want to make their home. And only once they are 100 percent sure which Kingdom they want to belong to, only then will a Tattoo appear on their skin. That's what it means to be a Wild Card, kid. Consider yourself damn lucky."**

Alfred stood frozen, shocked for a moment before he was able to reply.

"But, I was born in Hearts! I live in Hearts, my friends, my job, my life is in Hearts! If I was a Wild Card, I would still want to belong to Hearts! If I was a Wild Card, I would choose to stay to Hearts, and that means I would still have the Heart Tattoo either way, but I don't! I still don't have a Tattoo! How do you explain that?"

"Just because you like Hearts now, does not mean that you will always like it." Prussia scoffed. "As a Wild Card, both your heart and mind have to agree on which Kingdom you want to belong to before your Tattoo appears. So that means either your heart," He poked Alfred in the chest. "or your brain," He flicked Alfred's forehead, causing the other to yelp. "does not like Hearts. Besides, just because you were born in Hearts does not automatically make you yourself one of them. And who said you were born there anyways? Do you have a mother, or a father?"

"I-no I don't have parents." Alfred frowned; he had never known either of his parents.

"Well, there you go, kid! You're just assuming that you want to be a Heart, but the fact that you don't have a Heart Tattoo says otherwise."

Alfred opened his mouth to say something, but a third, younger voice interrupted him.

"Gilbert? Is that you?" It was coming from the shadows of the trees and Prussia turned at the sound while Alfred tensed, reaching for his hidden knife once more. Who was it now? Another Joker?

"Peter," Prussia grinned. "Look what I've found sneaking around, it's the Wild Card."

"The Wild Card? He's here?" From the shadows emerged a small blonde boy, no older than 10, with think, heavy eyebrows and intense, light blue eyes. His tail whipped back and forth as he hesitantly walked towards Alfred and Prussia.

"Peter, this is Alfred Jones, the Wild Card. Alfred, this is Sealand, my awesome Joker partner in crime!" Alfred scowled at Prussia. Why was he introducing him like that? It wasn't like the Wild Card was a status***…or at least, he thought it wasn't.

"You're the Wild Card?" Sealand looked Alfred up and down, just as Prussia had done before. His eyes lingered on Alfred's arm that was hiding the Spades clock.

"That's what I've been told," Alfred said loudly, hoping to distract Sealand. "Though I've never heard of it before today."

"That's because they're covering up some of the old legends." Prussia folded his arms across his chest and stared up at the moon, a bothered expression on his face.

"Who's-"

"What are you hiding behind your back?" Sealand interrupted, and Alfred mentally cursed. "I can tell that you are holding something."

Alfred tightened his hand around the Spade pocket watch, and grit his teeth. There was no way in hell that he was going to let a pair of Jokers take the watch away from him. It was his; it worked for him. A Spade clock would only work for Spades, but if it was true that Alfred was a Wild Card, it could also work for him, which it had already done. It wouldn't work for two Jokers, like Prussia and Sealand.

"It's nothing," Alfred said firmly, trying hard to keep his voice even. "It's just a part of Artemis' saddle, that's all."

"I can tell that it's gold though," Sealand said stubbornly. "Saddle pieces aren't gold, right Prussia?"

"Hm, yeah, I agree. I didn't notice that before." Prussia said thoughtfully, lifting an eyebrow. "Why did you come out here in the first place, Alfred? Hmm? To get something, possibly? I doubt you were out just for a leisurely stroll through No-Man's-Land…" He eyed Alfred with renewed interest, but this time there was a strange glint in his gaze that caused Alfred's gut to tighten with fear. For the time since meeting the Joker, Prussia looked threatening enough to scare Alfred.

"Well, the Queen of Hearts gave me this saddle part," Alfred lied, slowly starting to back away from the two. He gestured at Artemis and she stood up, her ears pressed back against her head. "And a Queen could have a gold saddle, right?" As casually as he could, Alfred reached for Artemis' reins, but before he could, a small yellow object flew out of the trees and collided with him. Alfred let out a startled gasp, and let go of the Spades pocket watch in shock. He watched in horror as the bird caught the chain in its beak, flew over to the Jokers, and dropped it into Prussia's outstretched hand, flying back again into the cover of the forest. Prussia took the time to smirk snidely at Alfred before turning to look at the gold object in his hands.

Sealand made an odd choking noise when he saw what it was, and Prussia's eyes bulged in suprise. Clenching his teeth, Alfred withdrew a dagger from his pocket, and curled his left hand into a fist. If the Jokers wouldn't give the clock back to him willingly, as a trained Hearts warrior, Alfred would have to take it back by force.

"H-how did you get this?" Prussia demanded .Sealand gently touched the face of the clock, running his small fingers over the numbers, his face in awe.

"I found it," Alfred glared, narrowing his eyes. "It's mine, it belongs to me. Give it back."

"Do you even know what-"

"This is not yours!" Sealand cried, yelling at Alfred. He grabbed the watch and pointed at it, holding it by its chain so Alfred could see it. "This does not belong to you! It never has and it never will! This clock belongs to my big brother!"

"Your…what?" Alfred shook his head angrily. "You know what? I don't know nor care who your big brother is, kid. I found that clock, and I want it back. So, either you hand it over now, or I will take it from you by force." Alfred pointed his dagger at the Jokers, and a menacing tone entered his voice. "Either way, I will get take back from you, but neither of you will get hurt if you just give it to me peacefully, right now. If not, one of you will get injured in some way. That I can promise you."

The two Jokers stared at Alfred with wide eyes, momentarily stunned.

"Peter, give it back to him." Prussia said finally, breaking the silence.

"What?" the other cried. "Why? This isn't his! This is for the Spades-"

"I know, believe me, I know." Prussia insisted. "But think about what this could lead to! If we give the clock back to him, the whole future of this world will change! Our future will change! All we have to do is hand it over. This could be a great thing, Peter." The boy's lip wobbled slightly, and he looked back down at the watch.

"Fine," he sniffed. "But only because it's for you, Gilbert."

Sealand tossed the clock back into the air towards Alfred, who lurched forward to catch it. He instantly felt better once the gold object was back in his hands, and he sighed in relief when he saw no damage had been done to it from the bird before. Alfred looked back up to thank the Jokers, but his mouth flew open in surprise when he found that they were not there anymore. They had disappeared. He turned in a circle, searching for the two, but found nothing.

"I guess they just left," Alfred said to Artemis. She whinnied in reply as he climbed onto her back.

"I wonder why they wanted this clock so bad though," he wondered out loud. "I'll have to look it up in the Library when we get back to the castle. Let's go home; I don't want anyone to notice that we were gone for so long." Alfred kicked Artemis in the side, and they galloped off into the night, leaving the clearing behind.

-o0o-

Hearts Castle, the King's Bedroom

"Feliciano, do you have everything packed for the Gathering?" Ludwig asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Ve, yes, Ludwig. Thank you for helping me." The Jack beamed gratefully at the King.

"Ja, ja, no problem. Just go to bed now, I need to pack my own things and I don't want to have to worry about you any more for the day."

"Of course, captain, sir!" Feliciano saluted Ludwig, earning a small smile from the tired German. "Good night, Ludwig." He left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

"Good night, Feliciano." He sighed. Still so much to do. Sometimes he wished that the Eternal Implement for the King of Hearts had chosen someone else for the job. Someone who wouldn't suffer from stress, like he did.

"Packing for a trip, little brother?" A familiar voice echoed throughout the room. Ludwig started and turned around until he saw Gilbert sitting on his bed, a common smirk on his face.

"Gilbert, what are you doing here?" Ludwig frowned "Has something bad happened?"

"Well, something certainly has happened, but it does not have to be bad. Unless, of course, you don't like the news I give you." The Joker smiled at the King, his red eyes shining.

"What? What is it?"

"What do you think it is?" Gilbert asked playfully.

"Gilbert, I'm not in the mood," Ludwig growled. "Tell me, or I swear I will throw you out the window, so help me god-"

"A Wild Card has appeared."

Ludwig froze, his face expressing nothing but complete and utter shock.

"What? But, aren't they extinct? According to the legends, they haven't been around for centuries."

"Were extinct, brother." Gilbert corrected.

"Well, who is it then? I take it you've met him."

"I'm not telling you who it is," Gilbert scoffed. "That would go against the rules."

"What rules, Gilbert? I'm your brother! Just tell me!" Gilbert made a tsking sound and shook his head.

"Nope, can't do that. If I tell you, it won't be fair to the other three Kingdoms; the Suits wouldn't be even. I can't tell you who the Wild Card is, regardless if you are my brother or not." Ludwig scowled, annoyed.

"And you can't tell anyone else, either?"

"Precisely, Ludie! After all, everything must be fair and just in a world of Cards."

-o0o-

"A card that is fully wild can be designated by its holder as any card they choose with no restrictions…"

Unknown

-o0o-

Translations according to Google:

Ja- yes

-o0o-

Background Information:

*There can never be more than two Jokers excising at a time. Jokers have strange powers that allow them to disappear and reappear by use of mirage magic, and they can also travel very quickly, sometimes managing to visit all four Kingdoms in a day. Jokers have a "responsibility" to keep the Suits as even as possible since they have the ability to acquire knowledge about the Kingdoms through dreams. As a result, they act as messengers to the Royal Decks and deliver important information about the other Kingdoms to each of the Kings and Queens. Jokers are not always very trusting; if there is something they want, they will not hesitate to go through any means to get it. 

**To simplify, a Wild Card is a person who does not have a Tattoo and can live in any Kingdom at any time without anyone being suspicious of him/her belonging to another Suit. However, if they want to, a Wild Card can choose to permanently stay in one Kingdom. As a result, a Tattoo would appear somewhere on their body, and he/she would not be able to live in any other Suits. This happens more often than not in Wild Card history, although Wild Card themselves are very rare. Wild Cards can be born in any Kingdom and of any status, what makes them different, other than not having a Tattoo, is that they have characteristics of all four Suits and the Joker combined into one person. In addition, they have very powerful magic abilities which make them very important warriors in battles with other Kingdoms. A Kingdom with a Wild Card on their side has an advantage over all of the other Suits in every single way. Wild Cards determine the most powerful Kingdoms of their time, which the main reason why the Royal Deck are continuously on the search for them. 

***Status and title basically refers to if you are in the Royal Deck or not. If in the Royal Deck, your status is either your number, or if you're the King, Queen or Jack, and the title is their country names. Royal Deck members rarely use their first and last names, unless it is with a close friend. Otherwise, calling a Royal Deck member by their personal names is considered insulting. For example, Kiku's status is Queen and his title is Japan, Feliciano is Jack and Italy, Ludwig is King and Germany.


	5. Alhliða, center of No-Man's-Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place a few days after the last chapter.
> 
> Oh, and, uh *cough* Arthur's in this chapter. ^^ Well, at the end of the chapter, but still. He's in there.
> 
> I do not own Hetalia.

Alhliða*, center of No-Man's-Land

"Oh, man, this is so weird!" Alfred exclaimed his eyes wide as he stared down at the bustling street. "I'm totally not used to seeing everyone wear white!"

Alfred and Kiku were sitting side-by-side on a high stone wall that overlooked an extremely busy street filled with people of all shapes and sizes from all of the Suits. Practically everyone had to travel through this way since it was the main road to the courtyard where the official Gathering ceremony was taking place. The moment the Hearts had arrived at Alhliða, Alfred had grabbed Kiku and pulled him through the streets, gawking at everything in sight. Alhliða was so different from anything Alfred had seen before; there were stone houses that overlooked beautiful views of No-Man's-Land, and a huge fountain in a courtyard at the center of the town that glittered as if made from fairy dust. The entire town looked like it had purposefully been built with neutrality of the Kingdoms in mind; none of the Suits main colors were common in any part of the village; instead everything was white, silver and gold, the colors of harmony and peace.

Kiku smiled at Alfred from his position on the wall in the shade, leaning against the trunk of an old tree.

"You will get used to it eventually. It is almost a pleasant change from seeing red every single day, wouldn't you agree?"

"Mm, I guess. It's kinda creepy though, not knowing who belongs to which Suit. I feel so open and vulnerable." He made an uncomfortable face.

"That's just the Hearts warrior inside of you saying that." Kiku said, his hands lying in his lap. "Everyone is equal here; this day is not supposed to make you feel defenseless. Rather, it is supposed to make you feel united, stronger, as if you are whole with the people who share this world with you."

"Why do you have to make everything you say sound so spiritual?" Alfred groaned. "I can never come up with a good comeback after you say something like that!" he huffed, looking cross. Kiku laughed at him, his dark eyes shining.

"You are good enough at arguing, Alfred. You are very stubborn and persistent once you believe in your cause, even if you have no evidence. Perhaps if you just worked a little harder and thought a little more-"

"No way, too much effort." Alfred sighed, staring at the crowd of people below him. He gazed lazily at a man with a large hat who was walking through the street; he had strange yellow bird on his arm. The bird was small, the color of dull hay with black eyes and scrawny legs; probably a messenger bird by the looks of it. Hey, wait a second. Alfred sat up straighter, eyes latched onto the small bird. Was that the same bird that had been with Prussia a few days ago at the-

"Alfred? Are you alright?" Kiku asked, touching the other's sleeve. Alfred blinked, breaking his concentration. He looked back at Kiku, who was watching him with a worried expression, and then back at the streets. He frowned when he discovered that the man with the bird had disappeared from his view, just like Prussia and Sealand had done the last time.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" he muttered, his voice trailing off. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Kiku looked at him quizzically.

"Of course, anything."

"Are the Jokers invited to the Gathering in addition to everyone else?" Kiku frowned at Alfred, his brow furrowing.

"No one is 'invited' to the Gathering, it is a public holiday; anyone is allowed to attend. And the Jokers are the only two people of all of the Suits who can live in No-Man's-Land at all," He reminded Alfred. "They can travel to anyplace in this land that they wish. They could possibly be here if they wanted to, however, I have not seen either of them since we arrived here yesterday. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno, I thought I saw something," Alfred shrugged, trying to brush of the question as merely curiosity on his part. "Would you be able to recognize them if they showed up?"

"Possibly, but Ludwig-san sees our Joker correspondent more than I have; I could easily mistake him for someone else."

"Huh, but you can recognize the other Royal Decks from Spades, Clubs and Diamonds, right? Why are the Jokers different?"

"Curious, as always." Kiku glancing up at the sky as birds flew into the tree behind him. "However, you are wrong this time. I only know the Royal Deck members of Clubs by sight; I have never met the Royal Decks of Diamonds and Spades, personally."

"What?" Alfred cried, shocked. "What do you mean you've never met them? How do you conduct peace treaties and trade agreements and stuff?"

"Well," Kiku said thoughtfully. "Ludwig-san, Feliciano-kun and I were supposed to meet the new Queen and Jack of Spades after touring Clubs, but I believe you remember how disastrous that attempt was." Alfred snorted at the memory.

"That was when I punched Braginski in the face," He grinned. "That guy's reaction was hysterical. Didn't we start a huge fight in the middle of an important feast thing?"

"He is Russia-san now," Kiku reminded Alfred gently. "But yes, that was what happened. At the same time, the newly appointed Royal Deck of Spades was having a meeting with Diamonds, but they had a similar bad experience from what I've been told."

"No way, there was a fight there, too?" Kiku smiled slightly in amusement.

"Hai, except it was between the Spades Queen, England, and Diamonds King, France." Alfred threw his head back and laughed out loud.

"Oh, man, that's funny! At least Braginski and I weren't Royalties, but the other two, seriously? A Queen and a King from different Suits fighting? Their Kingdoms must really hate each other!"

"Spades and Diamonds do tend to argue more often than not, but they are surprisingly loyal allies to each other. However, since those first meetings were so unsuccessful, the Royal Decks agreed to not meet each other until it was absolutely necessary to do so. As a result, we have only met Clubs, and Spades has only met Diamonds."

"Wow, that's crazy." Alfred shook his head. "So, even if you met the Queen of Spades or the King of Diamonds here at the Gathering, you wouldn't know it?"

"Correct." Alfred whistled and leaned back on his hands.

"No offense, Kiku, but that's kinda dumb. What's gonna happen if you go to war with them or need to discuss treaties or something like that?"

"Then we shall meet then. Besides, it has been a peaceful time in Suits history; at the moment there has been no need for the Royal Decks to meet face-to-face. It takes a long time to travel to the other Suits, and it is difficult for any of the Kings and Queens to watch over their own Kingdom while visiting another. So far, letters have been sufficient when talking of federal issues." Kiku explained to Alfred.

"But what if there is a war in the future? You won't know who the King, Queen or Jack is of the other Suit; you won't know who to target!"

"Hai, that is true." Kiku said. "But, the enemy will not know who to make a 'target' either. Honestly, though, I would find it more interesting if I were to meet a Royal Deck member but not know who they were until later." Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever you say, dude. You're the Queen, or at least, every other day of the year you are," He grinned sideways at his friend. "Today you're just a normal Suits person, just like the rest of us non-Royal folk."

"I do not mind; it is nice not having others stare at you all of the time." Kiku said appreciatively. "I've missed this normalcy in my life."

"Pfffft, normalcy is boring!" Alfred whined. "Let's go do something interesting!"

"Like what, Alfred? I thought you enjoyed watching the people on the streets."

"Yeah, but we've been doing that for like an hour already! Let's go someplace else! I wanna see what the market is like here; I bet there are all kinds of interesting stuff from all over the world!" Alfred leaped off the wall and onto the soft grass below, pulling Kiku's arm in an attempt to force him to follow.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Kiku laughed, sliding to the ground gracefully, unlike Alfred. "There is no need to rush, we still-" a large shadow came up from behind the pair, and a hand touched Kiku's shoulder.

"Kiku," said a grave voice. They turned to see a tall man with pale blonde hair, and serious light blue eyes standing before them.

"Ludwig-san!" Kiku said, sounding surprised.

"Ludwig!" Alfred cried, a bright smile lighting up his face. "What's up, man? I haven't seen you since we go here!" He held out a hand, and the two shook firmly, Ludwig smiling appreciatively at the other.

"Alfred, it is nice to see you that you are enjoying yourself."

"Oh yeah! I love it here; this place is awesome! I can't believe I never came here before." He shook his head ruefully. Ludwig nodded.

"You are here now, that is all that matters."

"Yeah, thanks again for letting me come. Me and Kiku were just about to go over to the market place, do you wanna join us?"

"I would enjoy that very much; however, there is an urgent matter that I must talk to Kiku about first." He said solemnly. "May I speak to him alone for a moment?" Kiku frowned at Ludwig, trying to read the other's blank expression.

"Uh, sure." Alfred said. "It's probably government stuff you wanna talk about anyways, and that would just bore me. How about I start heading over there first and you two can follow after you're done?"

"Ah, excellent suggestion, Alfred." Kiku said. "Do you know where you are going, though?" Alfred scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Uh, no. I'll figure it out though." He moved to turn away but Kiku grabbed his sleeve before he could leave.

"If you do that, you will just get lost. I will tell you the directions, but try not to go anywhere else but to the market; you could venture away from Alhliða and we would not be able to find you." Kiku chided. "Now, listen carefully; the market is behind the courtyard," he pointed to the left, through the dense group of people shuffling in the streets. "It is on a wide road that stretches throughout the entire town. It is large enough for carriages and horses to pass by and drop off merchandise, so make sure the path is clear before you cross it. It should not be difficult to find."

"Relax, Kiku," Alfred rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid enough to walk in front of a horse; I work in the stables, remember?"

"I should hope not," Kiku said. "Just try to be aware of your surroundings."

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Alfred waved him off. "I'm gonna go now, see you guys in a bit! Make sure you meet up with me after your chat, alright? Or else I'm gonna have to assume something bad happened to you guys."

"Ja, of course." Ludwig said. Alfred grinned and waved as he walked away, squeezing between two ladies to get onto the bustling street.

From up above, the street looked busy and hectic, but not difficult or hard to travel through. Actually being on the street, however, was another story altogether. Alfred never moved or twisted as much in his life as he did in those ten minutes it took to get from the wall, through the courtyard and to the market street. He ducked underneath baskets of food being passed over his head to a group of farmers, he jumped out of the way of a man carrying a huge four layer cake, he had been shoved by a teenage girl with long grey hair who was crying for her brother, and had walked through the fountain in the courtyard- no, not around it, through it- to avoid more people, which only resulted in getting his pants wet. By the time he reached the actual market place, Alfred was wet, tired and hungry. Thank god he was in the one place where he could buy new clothes and food.

Alfred walked up and down the market street gaping in awe at the variety of objects that were being sold. Man, this was crazy! Maybe he could convince Kiku to buy something for him for keepsakes so he could remember what an awesome experience this had was-

Suddenly, a bright light flashed through Alfred's vision, momentarily blinding him. He cried out in surprise and stumbled backwards, falling onto the ground. He groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. When he opened his eyes, the bright light was right in his face. Alfred leaned back and blinked, focusing on the glow. Slowly he made out a small body in the middle of the blue orb; it was a fairy. Again. Wait- what was a fairy doing in the middle of Alhliða while there were people everywhere? Alfred frowned at the magical elf while she waved at him with her tiny hand.

"What are you doing here?" he said quietly, trying not to attract attention to himself. As far as he could tell, no one else could see the fairy. She made strange gestures at him, moving her arms in a circle.

"Uh, I'm not getting it," Alfred admitted, smiling weakly at her. The fairy huffed and rolled her eyes then flew to the ground and drew a symbol into the dirt. Looking at it closely, Alfred realized that she had drawn a spade; and not just any spade, it had arrows coming from the center and a line coming out from its tip.

"Is that supposed to be the Spades watch?" He asked, turning back to her. She nodded enthusiastically, her hair flowing around her.

"If you're asking if I have it, I do. It's in my pocket." Psh, like he would've let it out of his sight since the Jokers stole it. "But, why do you-" She flew over to his hand and grabbed his finger, trying to pull him forward. Alfred watched her with a confused expression until she eventually dropped his hand, exhausted. Puffing out her chest, the fairy flew a few feet away and then turned back, gesturing him to follow.

"You want me to follow you?" She nodded again, and he stood up, hesitantly following the fairy as she flew in front of him. Once more, Alfred had to move around other Suits citizens but this time he had to keep an eye on the magical creature floating in the air, afraid that he would lose sight of her in the crowd. Alfred ignored it when someone yelled at him for walking into them or other objects. In all honesty, he could care less about what other people thought at the moment; interesting things happened whenever he was with or saw the fairies. And interesting was what Alfred lived for.

Which is the exact reason why Alfred walked into the middle of the street without checking if there were any horses or carts passing by first. By the time Alfred realized where he was, the fairy was waving frantically at him to move, a horrified expression on her face, and a carriage with four horses was galloping towards him at full speed, showing no signs of slowing down.

And Alfred was straight in the middle of their path.

There was no time to move, no time to think, no time for Alfred to do anything; all he could do was stand there, frozen in shock as fear ran through him. He felt like screaming or running, but there was no time! Instead Alfred could do nothing but stare in horror as his destiny raced towards him at a sickeningly fast pace. He was going to die. Alfred was going to die and there was nothing anybody could do to-

"NO!" a terrified scream tore through the silence, sounding as horrified and scared as Alfred felt at that very moment. It cut straight through the air, piercing Alfred where he stood. "NO! WATCH OUT-"

The next thing he knew, a large, warm object collided with Alfred, but not from the direction he was expecting. Instead the thing came from his right, crashing into Alfred's side with enough strength and speed to launch both of them out of the horses' path and into a food stand on the opposite end of the road. Alfred was thrown into a crate of tomatoes, his head banging against the wooden wall behind him. After gasping out in pain, Alfred blearily opened his eyes to see the carriage barging past, running right across the spot where Alfred had been standing not a second before if not for the mysterious person who had just saved his life.

Alfred felt something shaking on top of him, and he looked down to see a mop of messy blond hair lying on his chest. The thing that had crashed into Alfred was a person- a male, more specifically- and at the moment, he had his arms wrapped around Alfred's body, clutching the back of Alfred's clothes desperately. For a second there was nothing except the sound of their two heartbeats beating in unison, but then the other stirred, the blonde hair moving against Alfred's torso. Alfred felt is breath catch as the boy slowly removed his arms and looked up to stare at Alfred. Emerald green eyes met sapphire blue ones, and Alfred felt something twitch in his pocket.

The pocket watch.

Alfred sucked in a deep shuddering breath, a different kind of fear forming inside of him than the one he had felt when the horses were charging at him. Meanwhile, the boy continued to gaze at Alfred intensely, and Alfred had a moment to notice his huge, furry eyebrows before the boy opened his mouth.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" he shrieked at Alfred, outrage flashing in his eyes.

-o0o-

"In these negotiations we are not a helpless object, although great world powers are involved. We play an active role and try to influence our destiny; we have our own trump cards and we use them."  
Alija Izetbegovic

-o0o-

Translations according to Google:

(German) Ja-yes

-o0o-

Background Information:

*Alhliða is a large town in the middle of the four Kingdoms at the center of No-Man's-Land. No one lives in the village, but important decisions between the Kingdoms are made there, and sometimes travelers stay in the houses on their way to other Suits. Other than that, the place is mostly abandoned except during the Gathering for at most a week every year, depending on how long it takes to travel there. Everyone speaks Hoppípollan in Alhliða, which is why Alfred can understand Arthur at the end of the chapter.


	6. Alhliða, center of No-Man's-Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploaded from FF.net.
> 
> I do not own Hetalia.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?!" he shrieked at Alfred, outrage flashing in his eyes.

"I-I-" Alfred stuttered, taken by surprise at the anger in the other's voice. He had not expected his savior to sound so…irritated. 

The boy huffed in annoyance, and shoved Alfred away, stumbling upwards. He staggered into the street and glared at the carriage that was speeding away.

"Coward!" He yelled at the retreating figure. "Coward! You nearly run someone over and you just continue on your merry way, do you?! You bloody-" He started to walk angrily after the carriage, still calling the driver names and insults. When it was obvious that it was too far away to hear anything he was saying, the boy began to curse, using words that Alfred would be embarrassed to say, much less hear.

Alfred scrambled to stand up, wincing when the tomatoes stuck to the back of his pants. Great, now he was wet, hungry, and there were tomatoes on his butt. Kiku was gonna give him one of those disappointed looks if he ever saw the mess Alfred had gotten himself into. But that would have to wait for later.

"Hey, hey," Alfred jogged over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to pull him away from the road. People were already staring from the accident, and he really didn't want to be caught in the center of attention at the moment. "Calm down, I'm sure the guy didn't mean to run me over-"

The boy whirled around, anger contorting his features. Alfred took a step backwards as the boy started to shout into his face.

"'Didn't mean to'?!" he repeated incredulously, and Alfred shrunk away slightly at the fury in the other's voice. "What do you mean he 'didn't mean to'?! He did not even bother to slow down the horses! He could have run you over and he would not have paused to see whom he had hurt! You could have died! Don't you dare tell me that he 'didn't mean to'!"

"I-" it took Alfred a moment to compose himself to think of something, anything to say; he was not used to people shouting in his face. In Hearts, a person responded calmly and with restraint if another committed treason against them. This guy on the other hand, was clearly not from Hearts. He looked slightly crazy, glaring at Alfred with his fists at his side. Really, why was he mad at Alfred? Alfred hadn't done anything…well, except nearly get run over by a few horses, that is.

"Well, yeah, he did almost kill me," Alfred admitted. "And if it hadn't been for you-"

"Arthur," said the boy, gritting his teeth. "I have a name, and it's Arthur."

"Okay, Arthur then. If it hadn't been for you, I would be dead meat right now. So, thank you for saving me-"

"You're welcome," he huffed, crossing his arms and scowling.

"-but," Alfred continued. "You, seriously need to chill out, dude. This whole thing could have been an accident, the guy steering the horses might not have seen me. Plus, no offense, but what's the point in chasing after the carriage when it's obvious that the guy can't hear you anymore?" Arthur recoiled, shock flashing across his face. Then he turned an ugly shade of red, an odd combination with his bright green eyes.

"You-you-" Arthur stuttered. "You insolent little git!" Alfred started at the alien word. He had no idea what 'git' meant, but the way Arthur was talking, he was pretty sure it wasn't a compliment. "I saved your bloody life, and you're criticizing me for being angry at the person who would have been your killer?!"

"No, I'm not criticizing you for being angry," Alfred said, starting to get annoyed. Couldn't this guy just let it go? "I just think that it's dumb to go out into the street and start cursing the driver when you don't know him or why he was making the horses go as fast as he did. He could've been having a bad day, right? You don't know why he was rushing, so why should you judge him? Besides, you can't tell who was in that carriage, so there's no point in chasing after him."

"Alright then, Mr. Calm and Composed," Arthur growled. Wonderful, Alfred thought, he was still angry. "What would you have me do? Just excuse him for nearly killing someone because 'he was having a bad day'?"

"Jeesh, you're madder than I am, and I'm the one that nearly died," Alfred said, shaking his head in wonder. Why was this guy freaking out so much over this? He and Alfred didn't even know each other, yet he was acting like a close family member had been the one in danger. "I'm just saying that maybe you should calm down a little bit since you don't know who the guy was and you never will. There's no point in getting mad at someone who you'll never meet. Personally, I'm just happy that I'm alive and that someone was brave enough to put their own life at risk and save me," he smiled at Arthur who glowered in return. "So, I'm going to count my blessings that I'm still breathing and move on." 

Arthur narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to him, staring into Alfred's eyes as if searching for something. Alfred nervously stood his ground; Arthur didn't seem particularly dangerous, but there was something about him that put Alfred on edge. Besides, Alfred didn't like being closely observed as he was right now. It reminded him of warrior training, and that had never been a fun experience regardless if he was good at it or not.

"What's your name?" Arthur asked suddenly, his anger momentarily disappearing.

"Alfred."

"Alfred what?"

"Jones, Alfred Jones." Alfred said, feeling like he was being put under watch.

"Well then, Alfred Jones, at your request I will put this behind me, but only because you asked. I think that it is odd that you would ask pardon for a person that could have brought about your end, though. Most people would be ready to hunt their would-be-murderer down in order to get their revenge." He continued to stare intensely at the Hearts teenager, and Alfred noticed that he was taller than Arthur. Much taller, in fact. Arthur's head only came up to reach Alfred's nose. Alfred laughed silently at himself for not being afraid of fighting a huge guy like Braginski, yet he was still intimidated by a boy smaller than himself by about half a foot.

"I guess I'm just…special." Alfred said, noting the irony in the statement. The clock in his pocket twitched again, and he resisted the urge to reach down to touch it. What was with this pocket watch? Was it alive or something?

"So it would seem," said Arthur finally, leaning away from Alfred.

"Arthur! Mon ami!" called a voice from somewhere back behind the pair. Arthur turned around just as a tall blonde man with wavy hair burst from the crowd in the streets. Alfred watched with amusement as the man straightened up and brushed off his clothes daintily before over to the pair.

"Arthur, I have been looking for you," the man said when he finally reached them. 

"Francis," Arthur said, a scowl forming on his face once more. Alfred wondered if Arthur ever smiled or if he was just usually this grumpy. "What are you doing here? I thought I had lost you a while ago." The man- Francis, Alfred assumed- chuckled, his light blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Oui, but it is not easy for anyone to lose me for long. Especially you, mon cher." Alfred frowned. Mon cher was a French word. Only people in Diamonds spoke French; did that mean Arthur and this Francis guy was from Diamonds? Alfred had heard rumors about Diamonds; they were supposed to be airheads. Arthur didn't look like an airhead. It was almost like a gut feeling he had; Alfred just instantly knew that Arthur wasn't a Diamond. It was impossible; Arthur had to belong to a different Suit.

"Shut up, you pervert," Arthur said. "I never asked you to stalk me." 

"Ah, but it is so much fun! Besides, if I had not followed you, I would not have seen your little, ah, hero act you preformed." Arthur just glared at the French man, not saying anything. Alfred was silent as well, feeling invisible between the two hostile males. For whatever reason, it was obvious that they did not get along well. "You know, that was a foolish thing to do." Francis scolded.

"Saving a life is never foolish!" Arthur snapped.

"But you have responsibilities, I cannot even imagine what would happen if you were to die. After all, there are a great number of people depending on you, including me." Arthur tensed slightly.

"I'm sure you would survive." Arthur said stiffly. "You would just find another person to torment." 

"Arthur, you know that is not what I meant-"

"Francis," Arthur overrode the other's last sentence. "This is Alfred Jones, the person's life I just saved. Alfred Jones, this is Francis Bonnefoy…a royal pain-in-the-arse Frog." Alfred snorted loudly, and then tried to pass it off as a cough when the two stared at him.

"Francis, er, hi." Alfred said somewhat awkwardly. Francis raised an eyebrow.

"Bonjour, Alfred. A pleasure to meet you," he nodded his head at the other. "You should consider yourself lucky to be breathing. Arthur risked much to save your life."

"I do," Alfred assured him, wondering what he meant. The way Francis was talking, it was almost as if he was hinting that Arthur was a-

"Why were you even in the middle of the road in the first place?" Arthur asked him, his irritation returning. "That was one of the most stupid acts I have ever seen anyone do in their life. Didn't anyone teach you to look both ways before crossing the street?" 

"Of course!" Alfred bristled; he hated it whenever someone talked to him like he was a kid. He was a teenager, not a toddler for Ace's sake. "I was just following something and I didn't notice where I was going…" Speaking of which, where was that fairy anyways? Alfred turned around in a circle, his brow furrowing when he could not find her. Why was everyone suddenly disappearing on him?! Seriously, it wasn't funny anymore.

"Following what?" Arthur asked impatiently.

"Nothing," Alfred said. Arthur would just laugh at him if he found out Alfred had been trailing a magical elf that he didn't even understand half of the time.

"It cannot be 'nothing' if it made you forget yourself so much that you would walk into the middle of a crowded street," said Francis.

"I said it was nothing," Alfred said firmly. "I just-"

"Alfred!" another voice cried out, surprising the trio enough to make them all jump. "Alfred! Oh, thank Ace!" 

Alfred instantly knew the voice; he turned to the source only to have another small person collide into his chest for the second time that day. Alfred gasped as Kiku hugged him with a strength that Alfred would have never expected from the smaller boy. 

"Oh, thank Ace you are alright," he sobbed into Alfred's shirt. "We heard about the carriage only just a minute ago, I was sure that you were dead!" Over his friend's head, Alfred saw Ludwig making his way through the crowd at a slower but still frantic pace. He visibly relaxed when he recognized Alfred, a relieved smile appearing on his tired face.

"Alfred," he said when he was within hearing range. "You are alright? You scared us for a moment."

"Uh, yeah, sorry," Alfred said, attentively embracing Kiku. "I didn't mean to scare you guys." Kiku moved away, unshed tears making his dark eyes glossy.

"It is alright," he sniffed. "As long as you are safe and unhurt, that is all that matters." Ludwig nodded in agreement. Arthur quietly coughed behind him and Alfred started; he had almost forgotten that Francis and Arthur were still there. 

"Uh, Kiku, this is Arthur, he's the one who saved me." Alfred stood to the side and gestured the other two to come closer. Arthur stepped forward and shook hands with Kiku easily as if he was used to formal introductions.

"Arthur Kirkland," he introduced himself. 

"Kiku Honda," the other responded. "Thank you so much for saving my best friend's life; you have no idea how much he means to me." Arthur glanced at Alfred, who blushed slightly at Kiku's comment.

"Yes, he is very…special." Arthur said slowly.

"Hai," Kiku agreed. "He is."

"A little oblivious," Arthur continued, ignoring Alfred's annoyed exclamation in the background. "But defiantly interesting." Kiku smiled weakly.

"Well, I did tell him to be careful, but I guess he did not listen." Alfred glowered at Kiku while Arthur's lips twitched in amusement. 

"He does not seem to be the type of people who would listen."

"You would assume correctly." The pair laughed simultaneously, obviously sharing the same type of dry humor. As they continued to converse politely, Alfred leaned closer to Ludwig to talk to him.

"Where's Feli?" Alfred whispered, genuinely concerned. "I haven't seen him since yesterday when we arrived." Feliciano Vargas was a disaster waiting to happen, and could easily end up hurting himself due to some clumsy accident. He was normally around someone serious like Ludwig so that he could be restrained to some extent. 

"He is with his brother," Ludwig responded quietly so that no one else but he and Alfred could hear. Alfred blinked in surprise at the other's response.

"What?! He has a brother?"

"Ja. They are twins."

"Why didn't I know this? I've known him for a while now and he never once mentioned he had a sibling."

Ludwig shrugged his shoulders, keeping a watchful eye on Kiku as the smaller male uncomfortably shook hands with Francis.

"Feliciano does not like to talk about his brother," Ludwig said carefully phrasing his words so not to insult Alfred. "They were separated when they were very young, before you ever met either of them." Alfred's blue eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

"They belong to different Suits?" he asked. Ludwig nodded with a sad but almost understanding expression.

"That's not fair!" Alfred hissed under his breath. "That means they can't even visit or see each other at any other time then the Gathering!"

"Ja, well, it is forbidden for anyone to travel to another Suit without permission from the King or Queen. It is dangerous-" Ludwig said quickly, overriding Alfred who had opened his mouth angrily. "-to travel through No-Man's-Land without company, you know that. And it takes supplies, tools, weapons, and guards to make the entire transition. It is too expensive for just anyone to travel where ever, whenever they want. Besides, Feliciano and his brother do not get along well together because they are very, very different. I believe Feliciano is fine with only seeing his brother once a year."

"But they have to miss each other," Alfred protested. "It's not-"

"Not, fair, I know, believe me, I know." Ludwig said tolerantly. "But these are the rules though, and without rules-"

"Without rules, there would be no order, resulting in mass chaos and destruction." Alfred recited from heart with impatience. "Yes, I get that; I learned it in warrior training. But-"

"Alfred, you are an excellent, talented, and loyal warrior," Ludwig said. "Even if you tend to question the rules more than follow them. However, this is something you cannot change, so please do not challenge me on this issue. The Kings and Queens of all the Suits agreed on this a long time ago, even I cannot do anything about it. Please do your duty as a warrior and obey your King."

Alfred frowned at his friend, but let the disagreement slide. Ludwig rarely addressed him as the Hearts King, and Alfred had a duty to follow his orders whenever he did.

"Okay, fine," Alfred huffed, staring at his feet and trying to hide his aggravation. Why the Kings and Queens of the past agreed on a stupid rule like that was beyond him. It was completely unjust. Ludwig sighed and ruffled Alfred's hair in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Alfred, one day that creativity and boldness of yours will make you a legendary Hearts soldier; maybe even general. Then you might be able to modify the rules if you want to do it badly enough. But as for now, just accept what your limitations." Alfred remained silent, hating his uselessness. 

"Ludwig," Kiku called. "Come over here, I want to introduce you Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy, our two new friends."

Ludwig placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder firmly before walking over to join his Queen. Alfred hung back, an almost guilty feeling forming inside of him. But that was stupid; why should he feel guilty? He hadn't done anything wrong.

But, a voice whispered inside of his head, you're not a Hearts citizen, are you? You don't have a Heart Tattoo. You might not end up becoming the Hearts warrior prodigy that Ludwig thinks you are. You might end up betraying them; you could leave Hearts if you want to and go live in another Kingdom-

No! Alfred thought back angrily. I will not betray my friends or my Kingdom! A Hearts Tattoo will appear somewhere on me sooner or later, I'm sure of it!

At that moment, Arthur chose to turn away from Ludwig to look at Alfred. Their gazes locked, and Alfred's Spade clock moved of its own accord. It jumped slightly in his pocket, and Alfred immediately reached down to quiet it. Instantly, the clock calmed at his touch, fitting into the palm of his hand perfectly as if made for him.

I won't betray Hearts, Alfred silently repeated to himself, stroking the face of the watch with his thumb. But as Arthur turned back to the group, smiling politely at something Kiku had said, Alfred felt seeds of doubt forming in the back of his mind.  
\----------------------------------------------------------o0o-----------------------------------------------------------------  
"The most common mistake in history is underestimating your opponent; it happens at the poker table all the time."   
David Shoup  
\----------------------------------------------------------o0o-----------------------------------------------------------------  
Translations according to Google:  
(French) Mon ami- my friend  
Oui- yes  
Mon cher- my darling  
(German) Ja-yes


	7. Alhliða, center of No-Man's-Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploaded from FF.net.
> 
> Chapters start to get longer from this point on, just so you know.
> 
> I do not own Hetalia.

Arthur Kirkland hated it whenever someone told him what to do or how to do it. That was one of the reasons why he was fine with not having a King; he really didn't need another person telling him how to do his job since Yao did that most of the time anyways. Like right now, for instance.

"That was extremely foolhardy of you," Yao said, pacing back and forth across the wooden floor, turning every now and then to give Arthur a disapproving glare. "As the Queen of Spades-"

"Yes, yes, I am fully aware of my responsibilities," Arthur said, sitting on a chair and folding his arms. "Besides, Francis already scolded me on my actions the entire way here; you do not need to repeat everything he said." Yao stopped pacing, choosing instead to stand in front of Arthur instead. Arthur scowled up at him; another thing he hated was when people spoke down to him. It made him feel like a child again, which was not a topic he liked to revisit.

"Let me finish speaking," Yao said. "As your Jack and advisor, it is in your best interest to listen to what I have to say." Arthur sighed but relaxed, unfolding his arms and looking up at Yao expectantly.

"As Queen of Spades," Yao continued. "Your actions weigh more heavily than that of any other Queen in any other Suit. You have no King, and as a result, every move you make whether it be taking a breath or declaring war affects the public's opinion of you. All responsibility for what happens to our precious Kingdom falls on your shoulders. If you were to be seriously injured, there would be no one to take your place or help you. You are alone in this, do you understand? You need to recognize the consequences of your actions!" Arthur felt his heart shudder slightly at the word 'alone', but he quenched the reaction. Arthur was used to being on his own; in fact he liked it; why was he getting all choked up over a single remark Yao had said?

"Yes, well, there is no need to worry." Arthur said. "I have my magic, and London* to protect myself. I would not be so irrational as to risk my life unless it was for something important." Yao raised a thin eyebrow.

"Then what about today? Did you see something in London that told you the boy you saved would play a crucial role in the future of the Spades Kingdom?" Arthur frowned.

"No, I haven't had any visions since arriving here."

"Then why did you risk it?" Yao hissed. "You should know better, Arthur!"

"I do know better!" Arthur snapped. "I…I don't know why I did it, alright? It was a spur of the moment decision, it just…happened." He turned away from Yao's penetrating glare to stare out the window at the still bustling street even though it was nearing nightfall. He closed his eyes, remembering the hectic events of the afternoon.

The boy, the carriage, and everything else had been a strange experience for someone who had only lived in Spades his entire life. Arthur only went to the Gatherings because he was Royalty, and therefore had to attend the event to show his support for peace among the Suits. However, it was not something he looked forward to; he hated being in places where he was not in control. Here, everyone belonged to different Kingdoms of which Arthur had no influence over. As a result, he spent most of his time in Alhliða sulking on rooftops, detached from the crowds and joyous company.

Today had been the first time that he had actually interacted with people other than those he already knew. What Arthur had told Yao had been true; he did know the risk of what would- could- happen if he died, yet he still went out of his way to save that boy's life. Why? Maybe it was because Alfred Jones looked like an older version of his younger brother, Peter. They had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, except for the famous Kirkland eyebrows, of course.

But it wasn't that either, Arthur thought to himself, purposefully avoiding Yao's gaze. He had been drawn to the boy like a magnet, or like a moth to a flame. At first he had thought that the bizarre feeling was just a source of powerful magic that he was sensing, which would have been understandable seeing that Arthur was a wizard. However, he was soon realized that it was something else, something more. The moment Arthur saw Alfred Jones standing there, alone in the middle of the street with death rapidly approaching, he had been overcome with a desperate need to save the boy from his fate. Arthur didn't need London to know that if he had not acted when he did, Alfred Jones would be dead. So, no. He had not received any visions since coming to Alhliða, but he had a nagging feeling that the boy was important for whatever reason. Which was utterly absurd; he was just a normal person after all.

Even now, Arthur was sitting on the edge of his seat, nervously tapping his feet and rubbing his hands together. He watched the people pass through the streets out of his window, his eyes moving back and forth as if searching for something. Arthur forced himself to stop, annoyed with himself. Really, this was getting to be ridiculous. The boy is- was, Arthur reminded himself- nothing. He wasn't even a Spades citizen (Arthur knew every one of his citizens that had traveled to Alhliða), so why was Arthur so worried about him? True, the boy could be a Royal from another Deck, but he did not have the charismatic personality that one usually gained from being a ruler. If anything the boy's friends- Kiku Honda and Ludwig Beilschmidt was it? - had a higher possibility of being Royalty. How Alfred Jones became friends with such a serious blonde and calm brunette was a mystery to him.

Yao sighed, effectively breaking Arthur's train of thought.

"Nothing ever just happens with you, Arthur." He said and Arthur frowned, unsure if the meaning behind the words was good or bad. "Are you still planning on going to the ceremony tonight?"

"Of course," Arthur replied. "I always go, even if I do not participate in it, and what happened today is not going to interfere with my plans. In fact, it's getting dark out so I better get going." He stood up, heading towards the door. Yao made a startled exclamation but hurried to follow.

"No! Do not go!" Yao stepped in front of Arthur, blocking his path. Arthur halted.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Arthur asked, irritated. "Need I remind you of who is the Queen here, Yao?" The Chinese man shook his head.

"That is not what I meant; I did not mean for it to come out so harsh sounding."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I have a bad feeling about this, Arthur. Please do not go to the ceremony; I have a sense that something terrible is going to happen soon and I do not want you to be caught in the middle of it."

Arthur hesitated. Yao was a smart, intelligent person, even if he was sometimes demanding and lacking compassion; he was Jack for a reason, after all. His advice had helped Arthur make many difficult choices concerning the Kingdom. Also, Arthur believed that Yao genuinely cared about him as a friend and would be upset if something happened to him. But…Arthur had to go to the Gathering ceremony. He had to know why he was constantly having this anxious feeling, and why it had started when he had met Alfred Jones.

"I'm going, Yao." He said finally. Yao started to say something, probably to disagree with Arthur, but the Queen held up his hand. Yao stopped talking immediately. "Nothing you say is going to change my mind." Arthur told him, reaching for his cloak. "Now, would you kindly move?"

"I'm coming with you," Yao said, surprising Arthur.

"You are?"

"Yes, I'm not going to let you do anything stupid again."

"So, basically, you are just coming to keep watch on me."

"Exactly. Let's go." Yao yanked the door open and stepped outside, not bothering to check if Arthur would follow or not. Arthur sighed, but wrapped his cloak around his shoulders before walking out into the streets.

Before Arthur could move even a foot away from the door, he was shoved back into the wall by Yao. He grimaced as the crowds pushed towards the sides of the streets, making way for a group of passing horses. Why people thought it was a good idea to bring horses down one of the busiest streets in all of Alhliða was a mystery to Arthur. Was it really so hard to take the side roads to the market place?

Yao leaned away from Arthur when the crowd finally flooded back into the center of the street. The pair cautiously moved through the groups of people, trying to avoid being separated. Yao and Arthur had known each other for many years and had accomplished much together in the time as they ruled Spades. Arthur more often than not found himself wishing that they never found the King of Spades; Yao and Arthur were fine on their own and it took a long time for Arthur to get used to another person before being friendly.

As they continued on their way, Arthur felt strangely detached from the ground; he felt like he was moving in slow motion. He couldn't concentrate; his mind kept going in and out of focus as the sun started to set. The sky turned bright gold with tints of ruby red closer to the sun and darker sapphire blue farther away. Stars started to appear as shadows covered the town, shinning out of the dark like yellow diamonds. More and more people began to pour out of the stone huts and onto the cluttered streets, heading the same direction as everyone else; to the courtyard where the celebration would take place.

When they finally reached the courtyard, Arthur paused at the entrance, staring at the scene before him, just as amazed as he was every year.

The place was alive: music flowed through the air, created by using any kind of instruments possible; the fountain in the middle glowed, radiating shades of all colors and tinting the stones around it; the delicious aroma of food came from piles of tables stacked up to the brim with dinner trays, which were scattered throughout; fireflies and even fairies hovered lazily in the air, sometimes ducking in and out of tree branches.

The people themselves were probably the most interesting part of the entire place, though. People of all different sizes, shapes and colors filled the courtyard, all wearing clothes of the same pure white. Talking and singing almost overpowered the music, yet the dancers were still somehow able to keep time to the beat. Others sat on benches and chairs, laughing while their companions made faces trying the unusual types of dishes. Children ran in-between adult legs and chased each other, giggling at strange accents. Arthur felt a rush of awe at seeing such a rare display of unity and openness between people of different Kingdoms. It was soon followed by a wish for things to stay like it were at this very moment, but Arthur knew all too well as a Royal that it was impossible. The Royalties of the Suits were just too proud and different to give up their power in order to coexist as one Kingdom.

"Arthur," Yao said, pulling him out of the way of a group of passing teenagers. "Do you see Francis or Vash anywhere? Everyone is moving too fast and I cannot make out any faces…"

"No, but I will bet you anything that Francis is surrounded by a group a young, pretty girls all clamoring for his attention-"

"Arthur!" a voice cried out. Arthur's eyes widened when he saw Alfred of all people waving at him through the crowd. The boy beamed as he drew closer, practically glowing with happiness. A blue light hovered over his right shoulder, puzzling Arthur for a moment before he realized that it was a fairy. And not just any fairy; her name was Eleana, and she was a personal friend of Arthur's ever since he was little. Not only that, but she was the messenger and daughter of the fairy Queen herself. What was a fairy of her status doing hanging out with someone like Alfred Jones?

"Arthur! I'm so glad to see you!" Alfred said, acting oblivious to Eleana who was casually sitting on his shoulder and trying to avoid Arthur's gaze. "I wanted to thank you again for earlier and everything-"

"Excuse me," Yao interrupted. "I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?"

"Who are you?" Alfred said bluntly. Arthur quickly stepped in-between the two before Yao could react.

"Yao, this is Alfred Jones, Alfred, this is Yao Wang, my friend." Arthur said impatiently. "Alfred how did you-"

"Yao Wang? Why does that sound familiar?" Alfred wondered out loud.

"It is a common name," Yao said coldly, observing him with an unimpressed expression. "Arthur, is this the person you-"

"Yes, yes it is." Arthur said.

"Hmph, still doesn't look worth the risk to me." Yao huffed.

"Hey! I'm still here!" Alfred protested. The two glared at each other.

"I am leaving!" Yao announced, annoyed. "I will not stay in the presence of someone so obviously uneducated in the ways of respect. Arthur I will be with Francis if you need me." He promptly turned on his heel and left.

"You're friends with that guy?" Alfred asked, staring after Yao until his back disappeared from view.

"That doesn't matter!" Arthur snapped. "Alfred, why is there a fairy on your shoulder?"

"W-what are you talking about?" Alfred trying to fake obliviousness and failing terribly.

"You are a dreadful liar, Alfred. Plus, there is no point in lying to me; I can see her!" Arthur said and pointed at Eleana.

"You can see her?"

"Yes!" Arthur cried. "I know her, in fact!"

"What? Really? That's awesome- does that mean you know her name?" Alfred asked eagerly. Arthur raised his eyebrows.

"It's Eleana. How is it you don't know her name? How long have you known her?"

"About a year now, but I can't understand what she's saying! Their elfin language is so weird and foreign. I mean, trust me, your language is cool and all," he said, looking down at Eleana. "But I don't get any of it. Your name's Eleana?" She nodded. "I like it! That's such a pretty name, and it fits you perfectly!"

Wait a second, did she just blush? Arthur thought, staring at her with disbelief.

"Its okay, Alfred." She said softly, her voice unique from any human's. "We can still communicate the way we have been for now."

"What did she say?" Alfred looked at him with wide eyes.

"You really have no idea what she is saying?" Arthur said. Alfred shook his head.

"No. I mean, I'm great with languages, but when it comes to the elf language, I'm completely lost. I think it's amazing that you can though! You must be really smart!"

"O-oh," Arthur felt his face warm at the compliment. "Well, yes, I am very smart…She said that it does not matter that you cannot understand her, that you can continue communicating the way you have been so far. Which I am very interesting in seeing since you haven't ever kept secrets from me before." He glared at her while she attempted to hide behind Alfred's neck.

"I have to go!" she squeaked and flew away as fast as she could.

"Hey- what- where are you going?" Alfred cried. "Why did you scare her away?" he said to Arthur.

"I did not scare her away!" Arthur sputtered. "She just didn't want to talk to me so she flew away to avoid it altogether! I did not scare her in any way, she decided to leave."

After that there was an awkward moment of silence. Arthur looked anywhere but at Alfred, slightly worried that he had said something that would offend him. Alfred, on the other hand, stared longingly at the people twirling around the fountain.

"Hey, do you want to dance?" Alfred asked suddenly.

"Dance?" Arthur repeated, surprised.

"Yeah, dancing, ya know? It's when you sway your hips, and spin around and –"

"I know what dancing is!" Arthur snapped. "I want to know why you want to do it."

"'Cause it's fun, duh." He rolled his eyes at Arthur, who in turn scowled in annoyance. "Unless, you don't know how to dance or something-"

"I know how to dance, fool! I just…don't know any of the moves." Almost all of the dances that were playing during the Gathering had steps in time with the beat. And since Arthur had never bothered to socialize at the event before today, he had never considered learning any of the moves.

Alfred laughed out loud at Arthur's statement.

"Don't worry about that, dude. I don't know the moves either." Arthur blinked.

"You- you don't?" he asked and Alfred beamed.

"Nope! This is my first year here, remember?"

"But, if you don't know anything, and I don't know anything," Arthur started to say.

"Then we can be fools together!" Alfred finished for him. "Besides, I'm not completely clueless; Kiku taught me some of the dances earlier today…"

"And you think that little amount information is sufficient enough to survive a dance together?" Arthur said skeptically. Alfred shrugged.

"Well, yeah, why not? You probably know some of the moves too, since you've been coming here more than I have anyways. And who cares? The point of tonight is to have fun, and dancing is fun. So, do you wanna?" Arthur winced at the other's grammar, but nodded hesitantly. Alfred's face instantly lit up.

"Great! Let's go!" He grabbed Arthur's arm and pulled him to the center of the courtyard. Once they arrived, Alfred released his hold on the smaller boy and the two faced each other.

"You don't mind if I lead, right?" Alfred said.

"I don't have much of a choice in the matter," Arthur said dryly. "You are the one who knows the moves, correct?" Alfred blushed.

"Right, sorry, that was a stupid question." He muttered. He tilted his head to the side, listening as a slower song began to play. Arthur could tell when he recognized the song by the way Alfred's expression softened. "Okay, here we go, I know this one. Hold your hands up, level with your face." Alfred raised his arms, making sure that the palms of his hands were facing Arthur. Arthur mimicked him, and their hands touched, their palms pressed against the other.

"Now what?" Arthur asked, unsure of how to react to almost holding hands with a person he had met less than a day ago.

"Now we turn in a circle," The pair turned 360 degrees, trying to copy the pace of the other dancers around them. "And then we drop our left hand-" Arthur immediately did what Alfred said. "-and we circle again, but in the opposite direction…"

"If we keep turning like this, I am going to get dizzy and fall." Arthur grumbled. Alfred laughed again.

"Don't worry, if you fall, I'll catch you." They paused, and Arthur took the chance to stare curiously at his dancing partner.

"You would, would you?"

"Yup! I owe you my life, after all." The sentence rang in Arthur's ears as they continued to dance, regardless of how lightly the statement had been said.

All in all, it was probably the best night of Arthur's life; better than the day he had been chosen for Queen, better than the night he had beaten up Francis at that stupid introduction ball and most defiantly better than any of the previous Gatherings. In fact, he couldn't remember any other time he had so much fun. Arthur danced and ran around the courtyard so much that he was out of breath all night and was too busy to take even a sip of alcohol, which was a first for him. Alfred had convinced him to sit down and eat some food at some point, though. He didn't see Yao or Francis the entire time, choosing to hang out with Alfred, and occasionally talking to Kiku Honda.

At one point, Alfred had pulled Arthur to the side, ducking behind one of the ancient trees bordering the courtyard. As he peered out at the crowd with narrowed eyes, Arthur asked him what was wrong. Alfred turned back to look at him, a frown on his face.

"Do you see that guy over there, standing next to the fountain? He's really big and has white-ish hair?" Arthur squinted at the crowd, searching until he found the man Alfred was talking about. He did have white-ish hair, and he was extremely large. He even had violet eyes, which was quite interesting. But the part about him that scared Arthur the most was the man's smile, which looked innocent enough until he began to notice how it almost had a menacing edge to it.

"Yes, I see him." Arthur answered. "What about him?"

"Stay away from him," Alfred said. "He's bad news."

"I could have told you that! I mean, you just have to get a look at him to know that you don't want to mess with a person like that!" Alfred shook his head.

"No, seriously, Arthur. Stay away from him. I had a fight with him once, and although at the time it was really funny and all, he could probably beat a small guy like you to a pulp." Arthur scowled and pushed Alfred away from him.

"What you have no faith in my ability to take care of myself?" he asked, insulted.

"I- no, it's not that! I just don't want to see my friend get hurt!"

Arthur felt as if he had just had the wind knocked out of him.

"What?" Arthur said. He stared at Alfred numbly while the boy frowned.

"I said, I don't want you to get hurt. You're my friend, and friends watch out for each other."

"You- you want to be my friend?"

"Well, yeah. I kinda just assumed that we were already friends. With the whole saving life thing and all, it's kinda hard not to be friends. Plus, I like you, Arthur. You're cool." His smile slowly fell as Arthur continued to look at him with a blank expression. "That is unless you don't want to be my friend or something-"

"No!" Arthur yelped, causing Alfred to jump. "I mean, yes. I would like that, to be friends that is." Alfred's grin returned, and Arthur wondered if there was ever a limit to the boy's continuous joy. Then he threw his arms around Arthur in a bear hug. Arthur, taken once again by shock, stilled in Alfred's embrace before slowly relaxing and gently hugging him back.

-o0o-

Arthur was standing in the middle of hell. There was no other way to describe the terrible scene that he was in the middle of. Once tall, proud buildings lay in shambles, their huge stones were scattered on the ground. The air was thick with smoke from huge fires that painted the sky blood red. It was unbearably hot, as well.

Arthur took one breath, and chocked, falling onto his knees. As he coughed into his hand, flecks of white ash landed in his hair and on stones around him. Suddenly there was the sound of a huge explosion. The ground shook, and Arthur covered his head with his arms. He squeezed his eyes shut as rocks fell off their piles of stone, landing dangerously close to him. Where was he? He had never seen such a place as destroyed as this. Certainly, none of the Kingdoms were at war at the moment, so what was going on here? Finally, everything stopped moving and he was able to lift his head without fearing of something harming him. Cautiously, he stood up, and looked left and right for any sign of life other than himself. Someone must be around, right?

"This…this cannot be happening." Arthur turned to see two people standing on top of one of the piles of stone. Both were small, their clothes torn and matted. One was slightly taller that the other, and was staring at the scene before him in horror with bright green eyes. He also had dirty blonde hair and- wait. Wait. Was that- was that him?

"I cannot believe you would do such a terrible thing," The second Arthur continued to say, gritting his teeth and clenching his hands into fists. The original Arthur stared at the other with dismay when he realized what was going on. He was having a vision of the future. This was going to happen in the future. But how, and why for Ace's sake? What could have made another Kingdom so mad as to go to war with Spades and cause such mass destruction?

"I am not to blame for this," said the other smaller person who was standing behind the second Arthur. The original Arthur slowly walked forward, trying to get a look at the second person.

"Of course it's your fault!" the second Arthur snapped, whirling around and glaring at the other. "You're the one who attacked! How is this any way not your fault?"

"You took something from me," the smaller man said coldly, his dark eyes showing no mercy. "And you are the one who attacked me and my family first. And I protect my family." The original Arthur watched the stranger carefully. He was sure that he was not a Spades citizen, but he had a strange feeling that he had met him before. His voice sounded familiar….

"This," said the second Arthur, gesturing their surroundings. "This is not protection. This is evil. You've killed millions of innocent people, and for what? For revenge on what a single person did? Just how low have you sunk Kiku Honda, Queen of Hearts?" The real Arthur recoiled when Kiku's name was spoken out loud. He stared with disbelief at the Kiku of the future, almost unable to comprehend what he had just learned. Kiku, on the other hand, did not flinch at the future Arthur's accusations.

"I did what I had to do, Arthur. You of all people should understand this."

"No, no, I don't." the future Arthur croaked, angry tears building in his eyes. "You didn't have to murder Yao, and the Royal Deck. Or my citizens. You could've talked to us; we could have avoided all of this with an agreement of some sort between our Kingdoms-"

"No!" Kiku cried. "No, no, no, no, no! I tried, Arthur! I tried to reason with you, but you would not listen! So now, now you pay the price for your foolishness and pride." Kiku was breathing hard as he pulled out a gun from the back of his pocket. He pointed it at future Arthur, aiming for straight between his eyes.

"No!" the original Arthur, who had been watching the terrible scene before him unfold, screamed. He lurched forward, trying to save himself from Kiku even though he knew it was impossible. Before he was able to reach the two, Kiku pulled the trigger.

"NO!" Arthur screamed again as the vision ended. The land around him twisted and darkened, morphing into the calm bedroom of an Alhliða house. The heat from the fires dispersed, and Arthur was able to breathe again without choking on ash. It took him a moment to realize exactly where he was before he remembered the events of the past day; saving Alfred Jones, going to the Gathering ceremony, dancing, coming back to the house only when the moon was high in the night sky, falling asleep with London at his side.

He looked down at the enormous clock, trying to calm himself down. Then, he threw the covers off and began to pace on the cold wooden floor. The scene Arthur had just witnessed was a vision granted to him by the Queen of Spades Eternal Implement, London, meaning that what he had just seen had not occurred yet. In fact, it might not happen at all, but it was still a possibility. But how was it a possibility that Spades would be attacked by another Kingdom in a time of peace? Arthur growled with frustration and ran a hand through his hair. Kiku Honda…he was one of Alfred's friends. His best friend, if Arthur had judged correctly. In his vision, Kiku Honda had been the Queen of Hearts. So that meant that the Ludwig fellow and Alfred were both Hearts citizens as well, maybe even Kiku's King and Jack.

No, Arthur thought angrily. Not innocent Hearts citizens, but killers; evil murders that would eventually bring about the end of the Spades Kingdom and everything he held dear.

There was a quiet knocking on the door, and a small servant girl peered into Arthur's room.

"Your Majesty," she said quietly and curtsied before him. "I am sorry to intrude, but I heard noises. Is everything alright?"

"Wake Yao," Arthur said. "There is something of urgent matter that I must discuss with him." The girl nodded and left, leaving Arthur alone with his thoughts.

Arthur walked over to the window and stared out at the calm village. He stared up at the moon and clenched his hands into fists. The end of the Spades Kingdom? No, that would not happen. Not while Arthur Kirkland was Queen.

-o0o-

"Yellow diamonds in the light,

Now we're standing side by side,

As your shadow crosses mine,

What it takes to come alive."

We Found Love, Rihanna

-o0o-

Background Information:

*The Queen of Spades Eternal Implement. Both the London and Alfred's pocket watch gives visions of the past and future, however, London is bigger than Alfred's pocket watch because it gives visions of the future more often visions of the past. Alfred's pocket watch is the opposite; it gives visions of the past more than visions of the future, so on average it's very small. They balance out each other's abilities that way. Also, Alfred doesn't know the name for pocket watch yet, so that's what it's going to be called for now.


	8. Alhliða, center of No-Man's-Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything.
> 
> Thanks for reading thus far! I know its a lot of stuff but at least its starting to get interesting!

For one, wonderful moment, everything was calm and peaceful. The Gathering was over, and Alfred, Kiku, and Ludwig were walking back to the stone house they were staying at. They were going to go to bed and everything would've been fine, but then it happened.

Alfred stopped laughing halfway at something Kiku had said when suddenly, his clothes felt ten times heavier then it normally did. Trying not to look conspicuous, he slowly reached into the pocket, and his tips of fingers brushed the magical watch. It wasn't his imagination; the watch had gotten heavier, and bigger. That could only mean one thing, and it wasn't anything good.

No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening right now, Alfred thought with growing panic. Kiku and Ludwig can't see the pocket watch because they, or anyone else for that matter, would take it away from him like the Jokers had. And if they figured out that the watch had magical abilities…well, then it would be certain that Alfred would never see it again, much less keep it.

"Alfred, are you alright?" Kiku said, snapping Alfred out of his thoughts. "You look a little pale."

"Who, me?" Alfred said, praying that his voice wouldn't betray him. "Nah, I'm fine. Just a little light-headed is all. From the dancing, you know."

Kiku nodded sympathetically. "Yes, the first time attending a Gathering can be very exhausting. I remember my first Gathering…it was such a long time ago, but I remember every detail about that day because it was so much fun. I am glad you are having a good time- Alfred, are you sure you are alright?" Alfred had just stumbled sideways into Kiku by accident. Alfred struggled to stand up straight- the stupid watch was weighing his entire body down it was getting so heavy! - and tried to smile at Kiku without giving anything away.

"I'm fine," he lied. "Like I said before, just tired." he faked a yawn to sound more convincing.

"You should get to bed then as soon as we get back," Ludwig said from behind Kiku. "Tomorrow we leave for Hearts."

Alfred frowned, momentarily forgetting the situation he was in. "We're leaving tomorrow? Already?"

"Hai, but not until later in the day. There is no point in staying here since the Gathering is over."

"But I wanted to spend some more time with Arthur," Alfred protested. "There's still so much I don't know about him, or the other people who came here. I want to know more about the other Suits!"

"I know it is difficult to say goodbye to new friends," Ludwig said stiffly, his eyes hard. "But you don't have a choice in the matter. We must get back to Hearts by three days time so that there is time to plant crops for next year. Or else, everyone in Hearts will starve. We must get back home, Alfred."

Alfred swallowed his anger, looking away from Ludwig and Kiku so they wouldn't see his scowl. Ludwig just didn't want him to learn about the other Suits; he wanted Alfred to blindly follow Hearts. But then again, no one in Hearts knew much about the other Suits, and as far as Alfred knew, none of the other Suits knew much about the others either. That would be encouraging people to want to change their Suit, which was a bad idea for any Kingdom. Loss of people meant loss of manpower that could make or break a Kingdom.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Alfred said when they finally reached their stone house.

"Goodnight, Alfred." Kiku said and Ludwig nodded. Together they walked towards the bedrooms on the bottom floor. They were whispering in hushed voices as they disappeared into the shadows and Alfred wondered what they were talking about. Sometimes he envied the relationship Kiku shared with Ludwig- not that he would ever admit it though. The United Bond* between a King and a Queen was one of the most powerful types of Magical Bonds in all the Suits. Once meeting each other, the pair would stay together their entire life unless they are forcibly separated by death or another factor.

A long time ago, Kiku had tried to explain it to him.

"It is like," Kiku started to say before stopping and starting over. "You, Alfred, are without a doubt my best friend. However, with Ludwig-san, I share this- this- this connection that is so different from friendship yet so similar. He is loyal to me, and I to him; we would never betray each other. It is like I have this knowledge that there will always be someone who is watching out for me and will always be by my side no matter what decisions- good or bad- I make. I would never abandon him, and he will never abandon me. I know this without a doubt."

"What happens if one of you dies, or gets murdered or something?" Alfred asked curiously. Kiku's face instantly went white before a dark scowl formed.

"If anyone purposefully caused harm to Ludwig-san," Kiku said, his voice trembling with anger. "They would come to regret their decision as time passed. No person, thing, or force or this world would keep them safe from me; I would revenge my King at any cost. No amount of sorrow or despair on their part would ever be enough to match my own. I would hunt every single one of them down, and make sure that they understood exactly what they had taken from me." Kiku's hands clenched into tight fists, and his body shook slightly.

"D-do you feel as strongly about Feli as you do about Ludwig?" Alfred stuttered. He had never seen Kiku this angry before, not even when a servant girl had broken an ancient Queen of Hearts artifact that had been handed down through the generations.

Kiku took a deep breath to calm himself and slowly unclenched his hands. "No, the Bond only exists between a King and a Queen. Feliciano-kun is still a close friend, but the Jack is more an advisor to the King and Queen than anything else. He still has his responsibilities, and his Eternal Implement of course, but he does not share the United Bond. However, that does not make him any less important than he is; Feliciano-kun sees the world in a different light than most people, and I value his opinion greatly."

Alfred thought about this as he climbed the stairs to the second floor. Having that kind of Magical Bond meant that you were never alone or left behind. There would always be someone to look after you or protect you, even if you royally screwed up. He opened the door to the bedroom he was sharing with Feliciano, not surprised when he found the room empty. He's still probably hanging with his brother, Alfred thought as he walked over to the nightstand and lit a candle. That was yet another relationship he would never enjoy.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Alfred flopped down on his bed and stared up at the wooden ceiling. Alfred didn't have any family. He had no siblings as far as he knew, and his parents had either died or hated him enough to abandon him on the street when he was only a week old. As a result, Alfred had always tried hard to make friends. Maybe a little too hard, but still. He had always thought that his friends would be the family he never had. But now, his closest friends were part of the Royal Deck and they didn't always have the time to hang out with Alfred like they used to. This was the first time in a while that Alfred had actually been able to spend a whole day with Kiku. They were still best friends, of course, but lately Alfred had been feeling more and more left out.

Alfred groaned in annoyance and covered his eyes with his hands. He hadn't even told Kiku about the whole Wild Card thing because he was afraid of how his friend would react. He had thought that maybe he could have learned more about it from the other Suits at the Gathering, but it was obvious that Ludwig didn't want him to make friends with people from other Kingdoms. Ludwig wanted to shape Alfred into the future Captain of the Hearts Army, or at least he had hinted it several times. But what if Alfred didn't want to be a soldier? Who would want a life full of death and misery? There was a reason he didn't sign up for military training all year, after all. The only thing he wanted to do was to take care of the horses in the stables, was that too much to ask?

Alfred felt his clothes being pulled sideways, and looked down to see his shirt being weighed down by the watch in his pocket. He quickly removed it from his pocket with some difficulty; it had doubled in size since he had last seen it. He turned it over in his hands, frowning at how heavy it was. Alfred's eyes widened when he noticed a bluish halo that had started to form around its edges.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, this is bad, Alfred thought with panic. This is really, really bad! If I get a vision now Kiku and Ludwig could come up and see what's happening at any moment! I have to-

The clock's light suddenly flashed blinding white, completely covering the entire room and forcing Alfred to shut his eyes against the glare. He cried out in surprise, falling backwards while clutching the watch to his chest.

When Alfred finally came to his senses, he thought at first he was in a cave, because it was so dark. But then his eyes adjusted, and he realized that he was still in his bedroom in Alhliða. Except now the light from the candle was gone, and he was standing in the middle of the room instead of sitting on his bed.

What the-? Alfred turned in a circle, trying to figure out what had just occurred. Had the watch malfunctioned or something? 'Cause this didn't look like a vision of any sort. He was still holding the watch though, and he brought it closer to his eyes to examine it. It looked fine...it didn't appear to be damaged or anything. He held it up to his ear and listened closely for a second before he heard the steady tick-tock from inside. That meant that it was working fine too. So, what exactly had just-?

SLAM!

Alfred nearly dropped the clock in surprise at the unexpected noise. Footsteps were heard from the floor below, and more doors slammed open. Alfred quickly walked over to the window and stared out at the street. Horses crowded the pavement, and he saw men with swords and torches entering the house from the front door. Alfred's brow furrowed with confusion; were they being attacked? But, that didn't make any sense. They hadn't done anything wrong-

Someone groaned to Alfred's left side, and he heard rustling of sheets. He saw the outline of another person moving, then a candle was lit and the whole room flooded with light. Alfred gaped when he saw that the stranger in his bed was actually himself. The second Alfred rubbed his eyes groggily and yawned, too tired to move.

So, this is a vision, the original Alfred thought. The clock didn't screw up at all. I don't remember this ever happening to us before, so this has to be a vision of the future. But we're supposed to leave for Hearts tomorrow morning, so does that mean this is going to happen tonight? But why, and how?

There was a loud yell from directly underneath them, and the sound of clashing swords could be heard clearly even through the wooden floor. Then there was a shrill scream, the kind that hurt someone's ears if they listened long enough, and Alfred winced. The second Alfred jerked awake, his eyes finally coming into focus. Quickly, he leaned forward and blew out the candle he had just lit. Once again, the room went dark, but Alfred could hear himself picking through his bag that he had hidden underneath the bed. Probably looking for a weapon, he thought to himself and tightened his hold on the watch. Why are you showing me this? He grit his teeth, angry at his uselessness to help himself in his own vision.

"Upstairs!" commanded a voice from the bottom floor. "Capture the Jack before he escapes!" Loud footsteps echoed in the hallway, coming from the stairs. Alfred held his breath, keeping his eyes on the closed door that separated the bedroom from the soldiers.

The door was suddenly flung open, and two men armed with swords peered into the room. One of them had a torch, and he held it up higher in order to see the room better. That was a mistake. The future Alfred appeared out of the shadows, charging at the soldiers head on and with no warning. One fist to the face and a guard crumpled to the ground, dropping the torch. Before the second person could react, he was shoved roughly into the wall by the second Alfred. There was a flash of silver, and a dagger was placed against the soldier's neck.

"Who are you?" Alfred hissed into his ear. "Why are you attacking us? We haven't done anything!"

"I- I- I'm from Spades!" the man chocked out. His eyes widened in fear when Alfred added pressure to his weapon. "The Queen ordered us to capture the Triumvirate of Hearts** and take them as prisoners."

"Why?" Alfred growled.

"I don't know! I swear, I have no idea-"

"That's not a good enough answer!" Alfred snapped. "How do you know who the Triumvirate are-?"

"Hey!" another man stood in the doorway. Alfred cursed and squeezed the trapped soldier's neck; he instantly passed out. The future Alfred then spun around and ran straight at the man blocking his way to the hall. This man, however, was prepared and they exchanged a few blows before Alfred was able to defeat him. By that time, more Spades had crowded into the room, and no matter how hard he fought, he was soon overcome. The real Alfred watched with a mix of shock and anger as the future him was brought to his knees.

Another man, the leader of the soldiers Alfred assumed, appeared in the doorway. He strode over to the captive teenager as Alfred struggled pointlessly against the men holding him. The Captain grabbed his chin and forcibly turned his head left and right. Alfred tried to jerk his head away, but received a heavy blow on the head for his disobedience. He fell onto the cold floor, coughing and clutching the back of his head in pain.

"Is it him, sir?" the soldier asked in English. The real Alfred automatically cringed; although he was fluent in most of the languages in the Suits, he was still unused to hearing anything but the natural tongues of the Heart Kingdom. And English hardly sounded anything like Japanese or German.

The Captain grunted in satisfaction. "He matches the description: blond hair, blue eyes, tall. He must be the one. You!" he yelled at Alfred, switching to Hoppípollan. "Are you Alfred Jones, the Jack of Hearts?"

Both of the Alfreds- future and present- started at the accusation. The original Alfred stared with disbelief at the captain. Jack of Hearts? Feli was the Jack, not him. Whoever had given the soldiers their mission had obviously been misinformed.

"I- yes," the second Alfred said, much to the surprise of his present self. "I am the Jack. What do you want with me?"

The Captain opened his mouth to answer, but his response was drowned out before Alfred could hear what he had to say.

"Alfred!" a voice yelled into his ear, drowning out the Captain's words. "Alfred, wake up, please!" Immediately, he was aware of someone shaking his shoulders, but when he turned there was no one standing behind him, and he knew for a fact that nothing in his vision could touch him.

"Alfred! Wake up!" the voice cried again, and the entire scene before him started blur and fade out. With a gasp, Alfred's eyes opened to find himself staring into Kiku's pale face.

"K-Kiku?" he stuttered. "Wha- what are you doing?"

"Alfred," Kiku sighed with relief and released his shoulders. "Are you awake?"

"I think so…" he slowly sat up, and rubbed the back of his head. "Why are you in my room?"

"We heard screaming." Ludwig said. He was standing next to the bed and was holding a candle. He frowned down at Alfred. "We were not sure what it was at first, but then when came into your bedroom you were yelling in your sleep."

"I was?" Then the events of what had just occurred washed over him, and Alfred went white.

"Alfred? Are you alright?" Kiku asked.

"Kiku, you have to leave." Alfred grabbed his friend's arm. "You and Ludwig have to get out of Alhliða right now."

Ludwig smiled in amusement. "I thought you didn't want to leave the village yet?"

"I'm serious! Both of you have to find Feli and-"

"There will be plenty of time to pack our things tomorrow morning," Kiku said. "As for Feliciano-kun, I actually find it strange that he is not here with you. He should have been back by now."

"No, you don't understand!" Alfred said with growing frustration. The vision had shown the Spades soldiers attacking this very night. They could be here at any moment and if Ludwig and Kiku were still here, they would all be captured! And who knew what would happen after that!

"Both of you are in danger!" he insisted. "You have to find Feli and get out of here before it's too late!"

Kiku frowned and shared a long look with Ludwig before turning back to Alfred. He gently placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You are tired, and need rest. You are just overreacting from the dream you had-"

"I'm not overreacting!" Alfred snapped. "If you don't go now, we're all going to be taken captive by the Spades Army!"

His response was met by silence. Kiku's grip tightened, but is face was impassive as he stared at Alfred with unblinking eyes. Ludwig placed the candle on the night stand and walked over to the bed.

"Explain how you know this." Ludwig said.

"I saw it happen."

"In your dream?"

"Yes, in my…in my dream." Alfred said, improvising slightly. He tried to explain what he had seen to them as best he could without mentioning the watch. He hated lying to them, but it wasn't like he was about to tell them that he had been hoarding a magic Spades clock for months. That would only bring up more questions, and it would defeat the purpose of getting them out of the house quickly. So instead Alfred let his emotions to be heard in the words he used, hoping that they would pick up on the truth of how desperately they needed to leave.

"You want us to go because of a simple dream?" Ludwig asked after Alfred had finished. "Are you afraid that it might come true?"

"Yes!" Alfred said. "I don't care if you guys think it's dumb or stupid, but please listen to me this one time! I don't want to risk the chance of either of you getting hurt; you both mean too much to me."

Kiku turned pink, and Ludwig's expression softened.

"Well, let's say we go along with what you say, what would you have us do?" Ludwig said.

"Just, like, I don't know, get out of the house for a while until its morning. And if I'm wrong about all of this-" which, I'm not, he added in his head. "- you can put me on kitchen duty, or make fun of me, or whatever you want, just please go before we waste any more time!"

"I personally believe that you are letting your emotions get the better of your judgment," Kiku said, and Alfred felt his stomach drop. "However, if it will put your mind at rest, I am willing to do as you say. If I had experienced a dream such as yours I- I would probably insist on making you leave the house as well. I don't want to see you hurt either, Alfred."

"Thank you!" Alfred said with a relieved smile. Everything was going to be alright. Kiku and Ludwig would be safe. "Just, hurry up and go out the back door. Get your Implements and-"

"Why the back door?" Ludwig said as they all stood up and started to head towards the stairs.

"That's where they enter the house," Alfred said, skipping the last step and jumping to the floor with a loud thud. "I'll go lock the door-"

"It is already locked," Ludwig said.

"Alright, then I'll barricade it so they waste time trying to open it. You guys go ahead-"

They all froze at the sound of approaching horses in the street. Ludwig quickly blew out the candle, and Alfred automatically reached out to grab Kiku's hand. Kiku squeezed his hand back reassuringly while they all waited in silence for the horses to pass.

They didn't.

The horses stopped in front of their cottage, and Alfred noticed Ludwig's face went pale when they saw outlines of men with swords through the windows.

"Quick!" Alfred said in a hushed whisper. "Go! You guys need to leave; I'll stay here and try to keep them occupied for as long as I can."

"No!" Kiku hissed, his eyes glowing in the moonlight. "You are coming with us; there is no need for you to fend them off on your own-"

"Yes, there is! They have to think you guys are still in the house so that it will give you more time to escape! Don't worry about me, just find Feli and get yourselves out of here! I can handle myself, Kiku. I'll be fine. You two are worth more to the Kingdom than I. It's worth the risk."

"Kiku, he is right." Ludwig said, placing a hand on the smaller male's shoulder. "We must go-" there was the sound of quiet talking from outside. "Kiku!" Ludwig said desperately.

Kiku rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Alfred in a tight hug. "We will come back for you." He whispered into his ear.

Alfred smiled. "I know you will. But don't worry; I can probably escape at the last minute since they don't know about the back door. I'll catch up with you in no time, trust me."

Kiku frowned and gently touched Alfred's cheek with the tips of his cold fingers, surprising both Alfred and Ludwig. He stared into Alfred's blue eyes for a moment, as if searching for something. Then Kiku turned away before Alfred had the chance to say anything, and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway. Ludwig briefly clapped a hand on Alfred's shoulder before following his Queen. Alfred didn't wait for them to go before he started to barricade the door. As quickly as was possible, he shoved as many pieces of furniture as he could in front of the door. Then he hid himself in the shadows, blending into the night like he had been taught in military training. He clenched his hands around his dagger and waited.

The first time the door was forced open, it collided with Alfred's makeshift barrier, and there were confused exclamations from outside. Alfred grinned to himself when they tried a second time and was again thwarted. Then there was a loud grunt, and the door finally flung open, scattering the furniture. About five men stumbled across the threshold, almost falling before catching themselves. Alfred took the opportunity to attack.

As fast and quiet as an owl, he ran out from his hiding spot and took them all by surprise. His dagger flashed and instantly two fell to the floor, bleeding from a gash across their chests. The other guards were too slow to react, and another two had their feet knocked out from underneath them. Their unprotected heads hit the floor with a heavy thud, and they moved no more. The last soldier attempted to block Alfred's advance with his sword, but Alfred easily ducked out of the way and jabbed the man in several pressure points. With a silent cry, the soldier went down on his knees.

Alfred disappeared back into the shadows while confusion from the attacks left the men outside cautious to continue. If I can limit the amount of men coming through the front door, Kiku and Ludwig will have more time to escape, Alfred thought. He kept a trained eye on the door waiting for more men to enter. Another group appeared in the doorway, this time weary. Alfred took a deep breath and clutched his weapon tighter in his hand. Here we go again, he thought grimly before attacking once more. He slashed his dagger sideways so that it was nothing but a silver line in the night air. He was able to take out another three soldiers before falling back. However, he was more tired and his moves were getting sluggish. He ducked behind a wall and waited for the next Spades, breathing heavily. This time a group of ten or so soldiers poured through the entrance into the house, too many for Alfred to take on alone. They formed a protective arc around the door, creating an opening for more men to enter without the danger of getting harmed. Alfred scowled in annoyance; they were finally getting smart about their tactics, which was good for them, but very, very bad for him.

Another man walked into the house and stood confidently on the threshold now that there were soldiers to protect him. "Search the house!" he commanded in English. Alfred's eyes widened; his voice sounded familiar. This was the Captain from his vision! "Find them as you fast as you can! Look in every nook and cranny; we will not leave this house until the Triumvirate are in our hands!"

The men quickly spread out, breaking into pairs of two or groups of three as they cautiously explored the rest of the house. Alfred inwardly cursed and retreated as fast as he could without making any noise. As he moved, he shut every single door he came across, making sure to do it so that it wouldn't alert the soldiers to his presence. Now they would have to open every door he had shut in order to make sure there was no one inside. That would waste more of their time, and then Alfred could escape while they were preoccupied.

He heard footsteps coming up from behind him, and Alfred immediately fled down the hallway. If he could just get to the back door, he could disappear into the night no problem. The Spades soldiers would never be able to find him, and he could reunite with Kiku and Ludwig before the sun came up.

"Stop!" a soldier cried out. Alfred felt a thrill of fear run through him, and he sped up into a full sprint. No way was he going to get caught when he was so close to being free-

"Halt! Or else, this boy gets hurt!" There was a terrified whimper, one that sounded all too familiar, and Alfred automatically stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned to see Arthur Kirkland standing at the opposite end of the hall with a long sword pressed against the neck of Feliciano Vargas. Arthur's eyes blazed bright green in the torchlight, staring intently at Alfred while Feliciano sniffed tearfully.

"Arthur?" Alfred said, confused. He took a step towards Feliciano, reaching out for his friend. "What are you doing-?"

"Don't you dare take another step," Arthur warned. "I won't hesitate to kill him." Feliciano made a frightened squeaking noise, and Alfred paled.

"Arthur," Alfred said again, this time with a hint of desperation. "Please, let him go. He hasn't done anything to hurt you-"

"Not yet he hasn't." Arthur said with malice. "But he is a Heart, so one day he will. And I'm not prepared to take that chance. One less Heart is less of a threat to Spades." He pressed the blade harder against Feliciano's skin, and drops of blood formed. Feliciano began to hyperventilate, gasping loudly.

"No!" Alfred cried, moving forward again.

"Stay back!" Arthur snapped.

"Please," Alfred said hoarsely. "Please, let him go. I swear I'll do anything you want. Just, please, let my friend go."

Arthur relaxed his hold on the sword. "Anything, you say?"

"Anything," Alfred repeated. "I swear on my life."

"Hmm, that is an interesting offer." Arthur said thoughtfully. Alfred waited, holding his breath. "What if, I let the Italian walk free, and in return, you become a willing prisoner of the Spades Army. You will ultimately take his place as our hostage."

"Deal." Alfred didn't even take the time to consider his options. He knew from his vision that the soldiers thought that it was himself who was the Jack, and they would never let Feliciano go if they knew the truth.

Arthur raised a thick eyebrow. "I don't think you understand what you are agreeing to. If you go along with this, you can never attempt to escape. You will never return to your home Kingdom unless we allow you to. You will be in chains for the rest of your life."

"I know what you meant." Alfred said heatedly. "My answer still stands. I'll do it, just let him go."

"Alfred," Feliciano whispered. His eyes were glossy with unshed tears.

"Very well," Arthur said. He removed his sword from Feliciano's neck and pushed the Italian away from him onto the ground.

"Feli!" Alfred rushed to his friend's side.

"Guards!" Arthur yelled. "Arrest the blonde, let the other walk free."

"Yes, sir." Two men came forward and pulled Alfred away from Feliciano.

"Alfred!" Feliciano cried. He started to follow after him, but Alfred shook his head.

"Go!" Alfred told him. "I'll be fine. Just find Kiku and Ludwig. Tell them…tell them that it was worth it."

"Yes, do leave before I change my mind." Arthur threatened.

His words convinced Feliciano to finally run away, and he scrambled out the back door as fast as he legs could carry him. When he had gone, Arthur turned back to Alfred. He observed at his new prisoner with an unreadable expression. Alfred stared numbly back; unable to understand how this was the same person whom he had just made friends with only a few hours earlier. Arthur was acting completely different from the guy that had saved Alfred's life.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself," Arthur said finally. "You know my name is Arthur Kirkland. However, most people know me as England, Queen of the Spades Kingdom. It is a pleasure to finally meet someone from the Hearts Royal Deck such as yourself, Alfred Jones, Jack of Hearts. You will make an excellent weapon to use against your Kingdom, should the need arise. This is war, after all."

-o0o-

Just outside of Alhliða, center of No-Man's-Land

"…and there was nothing I could do but stand there and watch while they took him away." Feliciano recited tearfully to Ludwig an hour later. "I- I just ran away like a coward and let him take my place-"

"Shhh, Feliciano, it's alright." Ludwig wrapped his friend into a tight hug while the Italian sobbed into his shirt. "There was nothing you could do," Ludwig reassured him. "Alfred would have sacrificed himself anyway-"

"And the worst part was that they thought that Alfred was the Jack of Hearts! That was why they wanted him to trade places with me so badly; they think that they can use him as a threat against Hearts. And I- I let them think that so that I wouldn't be the one held captive." He broke down once more, and Ludwig rubbed his back in comforting circles.

"You need rest." Ludwig said. "Alfred did what any Hearts soldier would be expected to do. We all just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Feliciano sniffed. "I guess you're right…"

"Do not worry, we will get Alfred back. He won't be in Spades hands for long. Why don't you go stand by the horses and try to calm down while I talk to Kiku for a minute? I will be back quickly."

Feliciano nodded, but he still looked upset. Ludwig squeezed his shoulders once before walking over to his Queen. Kiku stood with his back to Ludwig, his hands clasped behind his back. He stared out at the sleeping village with a stony expression. Only Ludwig could tell how absolutely furious Kiku was at the moment.

"Kiku, what are we going to do about this?" Ludwig asked quietly. "We cannot allow them to attack us for no reason without taking some course of action."

"Of course not," Kiku said stiffly. "We will confront the Spades Kingdom about their unjust attack, and then demand them to return Alfred to us."

"And what if they do not cooperate?"

Kiku turned to face Ludwig, and his face was illuminated by the moon's light. Never before had Ludwig seen Kiku so pale, or his pupils so large. His face was worn out, and there were dark circles underneath his eyes.

"And if not," Kiku said, striding past Ludwig. "We go to war."

-o0o-

"In order to win you must be prepared to lose sometime. And leave one or two cards showing."  
Van Morrison

-o0o-

Background Information:

*The United Bond between a King and a Queen forces the two to work together for the good of their Kingdom and remain loyal to one another even if they don't like each other. They feel obligated to support, encourage or even die for the other person. Even if they are removed from their titles or banished, the Bond will last until one or the other dies. There are other kinds of Magical Bonds, but the United Bond is the most powerful and has the strongest effect on those who have it.

**Triumvirate is the term used when referring to a King, Queen and Jack of any Suit.

Weapons in the Suits are varied. The armies use swords, bows, knifes, daggers, spears, guns, explosives and just about any other type of weapon you can think of. However, weapons like guns and explosives are only owned by people high of rank in either the army or the Royal Deck. This is because they are expensive to make and can have different magical properties in addition to being able to cause a large amount of destruction.


	9. Somewhere in Spades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Orriginally posted on FF.net on 2/6/2012.
> 
> I don't own anything.

"I don't care if you don't want it, just eat the food!"

"I'm not hungry."

Arthur scowled. "Did you not hear what I just said? I don't bloody care. Starving yourself isn't going to change your situation. You are still going to be tied around this tree until we start to travel again, regardless of whether you have lunch or not. Just, eat the food and be happy that you get anything at all."

"I don't want it. Go away." Alfred pointedly looked off into the distance, glaring at the horizon. If Arthur thought Alfred was going to be nice to him just because they were traveling together, he had another thing coming. He still hadn't forgiven Arthur for everything that had happened the other day, and he wasn't sure if he ever would.

"Stop being stubborn. This is good and healthy-"

"Are you kidding me?" Alfred cried, struggling to loosen the rope that was holding him tight. "I had some of your 'food' this morning if you can even call it food, and it was the most disgusting thing I've ever had in my life! I think I almost died from food poisoning because of that stuff! If that's what you think good food is, there is no way in hell I'm going to eat whatever that black lump is on your plate."

"It's called a scone!" Arthur snapped, visibly getting more and more frustrated. "And it is not black, it's just a little burnt. There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Then you eat it if it's so great! I said I'm not hungry."

They glared at each other.

"Fine, then. Starve for all I care. It's not like I'm trying to keep you alive or anything!" Arthur made a show of standing up and turning to walk away.

"Good, because I don't think I could eat your food and survive anyways." Alfred yelled after him. "You probably poisoned it or something for all I know!" Arthur stopped in his tracks.

"I wouldn't poison you," he said after a short pause. "I'm not…like that."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't know." Alfred said bitterly, remembering the events of his first, and probably last, Gathering. "You almost killed my friend; I can't trust you."

Arthur flushed. "He was a Heart! It was necessary."

"So am I! Why don't you just kill me too?"

Arthur stared at Alfred with blank shock. Obviously, the option had never occurred to him before.

"Be- because," Arthur stuttered. "You- you're the Jack! We can't kill you yet, there's still use for you." Alfred looked at him skeptically, not impressed with the answer.

"What is going on over here?" Yao asked, walking over to the pair. He looked Alfred over with the same indifferent expression he always wore. Alfred wasn't sure if Yao approved of taking him prisoner or not; the Jack never outright said that he didn't like Alfred to his face, but he was never exactly pleasant either.

"He won't eat." Arthur told Yao. "I even offered him some of my food but he refused."

"Well that explains it, Arthur." Yao said dryly. "Anything made by you is highly toxic; the boy wouldn't be able to keep any of it down even if he had some." Alfred let out a short bark of laughter before stopping himself.

"That's not true!" Arthur protested as Yao leaned down so that he was eye level with Alfred. "I think I make delicious meals, personally! Your taste buds just aren't working right!"

"Oh, yeah? You eat that rock then." Alfred nodded at the scone. Arthur glared at him before picking the scone up and taking a large bite of it. Arthur chewed it without difficulty and swallowed while Alfred gaped.

"There, see? Nothing wrong with it."

"H- How did you chew that?" Alfred asked with wonder. "Is it even, like, digestible? Or does it get stuck in your stomach and never break down?" Arthur turned red with anger.

"I'm leaving!" Arthur folded his arms and stalked away, muttering under his breath. Alfred shook his head at Arthur's retreating figure.

"Is he usually like that?" Alfred asked.

"Like what?" Yao pulled out a box from behind his back.

"Like, can he actually eat that without having any problems?" Alfred eyed the box curiously.

Yao paused. "He will be fine," he said. "Arthur is the only person I know of who can eat his own food without chocking or having severe stomach problems later on." He opened the box, revealing an array of foods that Alfred had rarely seen except for in pictures. It must be Spades food.

"Now," Yao said. "This is food that I made. I assure you that it is edible. Eat."

Alfred glowered. "First of all, I'm tied up. I can't eat if my hands are bound. Secondly, that won't be a problem since I still don't want any of it."

Yao narrowed his eyes. "Eat it."

"No."

"Eat. It."

"No! I don't want to."

"If you don't eat now, you won't have anything until dinner. That is, if we even give you that luxury."

"Fine, do what you have to. Still doesn't change my mind." Alfred said stubbornly.

Yao sighed and stood up, leaving the food in front of Alfred. "Hearts always were trained to survive on bare essentials; however, you will cave in eventually. I will come to collect the box before we leave, if you haven't had any of it by then, I will take it away. Understood?"

"Got it, Your Highness." Alfred said sarcastically. Yao shook his head.

"It's like talking to a child," he murmured under his breath before walking away.

"I heard that!" Alfred called after him. Yao did not turn. Alfred sighed with frustration and let his head bang against the tree trunk. He tried to move his arms before he remembered the rope. Why the heck did they have to tie him up? He swore to Arthur he wouldn't run away.

"Mein Gott," he sighed, missing his natural languages. For the past day and a half, he had been forced to speak Hoppípollan since all of the people he was traveling with either refused or didn't know how to speak German, Italian or Japanese. Of course, Alfred himself knew English and Chinese, but the Spades didn't really need to know that. It gave him a chance to listen in on all of the soldiers' conversations without them being on their guard. So far, Alfred had been called annoying, suspicious, evil, weirdo, creeper-

"Having a rough day?" someone asked in German.

"You have no idea," Alfred responded in the same language before he realized what had just happened. He started and then looked around wildly for the person who had spoken. There was the sound of obnoxious laughter.

"Above you, kid."

Alfred looked up to find a crazy teenager with white grey hair and ruby red eyes grinning down at him.

"Long time no see." Prussia said from his position on a tree branch.

"You!" Alfred cried.

"Me." Prussia agreed. His tail flicked in and out of the branches.

"Don't you live in No-Man's-Land?" Alfred hissed. "What are you doing here?" He wasn't sure whether to be angry or happy to see the Joker; the last time they had met, Prussia had told him that he was a Wild Card and pretty much changed Alfred's entire life. And not really in a good way either, considering that he was now prisoner of the Spades army and as far away from home as he would ever be.

Prussia dropped down from the tree branch and landed lightly on his feet before Alfred.

"Doing you a favor." he snapped his fingers and the ropes that were binding Alfred fell away. Alfred shook out his arms and stretched out, his face breaking out into a relieved smile.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, rubbing his wrists which were red from friction against the ropes.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm awesome. Just eat something before you pass out."

Alfred looked at the box wearily. "Are you sure it's not-"

"Jeesh, kid, it's not poisoned! Spades wouldn't kill off their prime weapon to use against Hearts, now would they? It's perfectly fine to eat."

Alfred lunged at the box and began stuffing his mouth full as much as he could. Prussia slowly sat down next to him, smiling.

"You were hungry." Prussia noted. Alfred nodded, his mouth to full with food to answer. He was always hungry, but as Yao said, in the Hearts military training he had been taught to survive for at least a day or two without food or water. Up until now, he had no guarantee that the food was safe to eat.

"They're going to see you if you stay here," Alfred said when he had finally swallowed. He nodded his heads towards the camp the soldiers had made a little bit off. None of them had bothered to check on him yet, but they probably would in half an hour or so since they didn't trust him to not run away.

Prussia grinned and help up his hand. Alfred's eyes bulged when he saw that the Joker's hand was see-through, like he was made of water or glass.

"I have Mirage Magic," Prussia explained, and his hand went back to its normal solid form. "Right now, you're the only person who can see me. Even if the soldiers do come over here, they'll just think you're talking to yourself."

Alfred glowered. "Thanks, that really helps, you know. They already think I'm weird, this will just confirm their suspicions that I'm out of my mind." Prussia laughed.

"What does it matter to you what they think?" Prussia asked, leaning back. "They're never going to like you, no matter what you do. You're the enemy after all."

"Well," Alfred said slowly. "I would prefer it if none of them would kill me in my sleep or anything like that if they ever get too drunk to know what they're doing. So I'd rather be nice than to have them all hate me."

"Hmm, you got a point there." Prussia leaned over and stole a berry from Alfred's dish. "And what do you think about Arthur?"

Alfred stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know. Him being Queen of Spades? That doesn't bother you at all?"

"Oh, that." Alfred busily shoved more food into his mouth.

"Well?" Prussia asked, watching him with amusement.

Alfred swallowed. "He's an ass."

Prussia snorted once before he went into full blown out laughter. He clutched his sides and fell sideways onto the grass he was laughing so hard. Alfred ignored him, eating more food. He watched the teenager moodily as he chewed. Really, what did Prussia want him to say? For about a day after the whole Gathering fiasco, Alfred had been completely silent, still in shock from the events. It was only yesterday evening that he had started to talk again, but that wasn't exactly a good thing for the Spades seeing that Alfred gave them a hard time about everything. Just because he had promised not to run away didn't mean that he wasn't going to fight them tooth and nail the entire time he was in their care. Eventually, they might think he's not worth the trouble and let him go, if Alfred was lucky.

It had been a shock to find out who Arthur really was, but that only explained his ruthless nature for getting what he wanted. At first, Alfred had been furious at Arthur for threatening Feliciano's life-he still was, in fact- but from growing up with the Triumvirate of Hearts, Alfred knew that they were trained to go through any measures at any cost to protect their Kingdom. Arthur being the Queen of Spades was no different. But, it was hard for him to be mad at Arthur when the Queen was doing just about everything he possibly could to make sure that Alfred was being taken care of. He couldn't tell if Arthur really was worried about him, or if he was just trying to get on Alfred's good side so he could spill some Heart secrets. Alfred would just have to be on his guard from now on; he would never trust Arthur ever again. Obviously it had been a mistake.

After some time, Prussia was able to calm himself, and he sat back up.

"You have no idea how true that statement is." Prussia said, brushing blades of grass out of his grey hair.

"Why? Have you met him? Or has he lied to you about his true identity, tried to kill your friends while also refusing to tell you why, and offered you terrible food after forcing you to become his slave for the rest of your life too?"

Prussia grinned. "I've met him once or twice maybe, but it's not my job to cover this Kingdom. Sealand gives the messages here. I cover Hearts and Diamonds, Sealand does Spades and Clubs. Sometimes we switch but it's not that often."

Alfred stopped eating for a moment to stare at Prussia. "You're Kiku and Ludwig's Joker correspondent?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Have you seen either of them since the day before yesterday?" Alfred asked immediately, trying to keep the desperate tone out of his voice. "Is that why you're here? Did they give you a message or something to tell me?"

He shook his head. "Sorry, kid. I haven't spoken to either of them yet." Alfred's heart clenched, and there was a strange lump in his throat. He blinked and looked away from the Joker, biting his lip. Prussia looked almost guiltily.

"Hey, I really am sorry." Prussia said again, touching Alfred's shoulder. "You're a good person; you don't deserve to be separated from your family. But most people don't, and that's just how the world works. I'll tell them that you're alright though, and that you miss them. I'm sure they miss you, too."

"If you're not here to give me a message, then what are you doing here?" Alfred finally said after a minute of silence. "It had to be for something other than to just help me get my lunch." He gestured at his nearly finished meal.

"What, I can't visit my favorite little Wild Card?" Prussia playfully punched Alfred's shoulder in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I thought I was the only Wild Card." Alfred grumbled, rubbing his arm.

"Oh, yeah, well, you are the only one. But still, you make this game interesting. It would be boring without you."

Alfred frowned. "This isn't a game, Prussia. This is real life."

"It's the same thing, in essence. Life is nothing but a series of scheduled events, one thing after another. And everything from what you wear when you get up to the exact date of when you die is all in this one big Plan of the universe*. Nothing can change the Plan, nothing except the Wild Card."

"I don't understand."

Prussia rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't, you're not a Joker. And only Jokers can read the Plan. Let's just say simply that you're going to change this world, Jones. You're going to take the Plan, and turn it inside out and backwards. You're going to take the norm, and completely destroy it. A Wild Card takes everything everyone thinks they know, and proves it all wrong. What's true will be false, and what is false will be true."

"You're speaking in riddles!" Alfred groaned. "I don't get anything you're saying!"

Prussia shrugged. "You don't have to get it. Just know that you're going to change the world, that's all."

"Gee, thanks so much for telling me that." Alfred rolled his eyes. "No pressure or anything."

"Nope! It's all in the Plan, buddy. It's all in the Plan."

"Your plan, maybe." Alfred muttered and Prussia smiled agian.

"Oh, I do so enjoy spending time with you, Jones. You brighten up my entire day." He patted Alfred once on the back before standing up and stretching.

"Are you leaving? Already?" Alfred asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I shouldn't be here anyway; Sealand's mad at me."

"Why? Did you do something?"

"Not yet, but I'm about to. I've decided that I'm going to give you a present, Jones."

Alfred perked up. "A present? I love presents! What is it?" He looked expectantly at the Joker with wide eyes.

Prussia laughed. "Oh, I don't have it on me, but you'll know it when you see it. Just promise me to look inside of what it's carrying before the Spades get there; you don't want them to search the thing before you can, or else they would find a very interesting surprise."

Alfred gaped at the Joker. "I used to think you were the type of guy who just said whatever was on their mind at the moment," he said. "But now I know that your mind must be insane because I never understand what you're saying." Prussia leaned down and ruffled Alfred's golden blonde hair, like they were two old friends.

"That's a good thing, kid. You don't want to understand what's going on in my mind, trust me."

Alfred opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a loud whinny coming from the horses. He turned to see one of the stallions buck as something large and grey charged past. There were surprised cries from the camp and all of the soldiers abandoned their seats to calm down their horses. Others chased after the silver blur, which was surprisingly fast but could easily be slowed down when it tripped over the makeshift tents and campfires. Even from this distance, Alfred could hear Arthur yelling orders at his men- even though no one was listening- and he could see Yao chasing after the moving silver shape with rope in his hands.

Prussia snickered next to Alfred. "They look like chickens with their heads chopped off." He smirked appreciatively. "I am so awesome."

"Is this the gift?" Alfred questioned. "A distraction?" he shook his head. "That doesn't help me at all. I promised Arthur that I wouldn't leave, and even though I hate the guy right now, I hold true to my word."

Prussia grinned. "Just take a closer look at it, kid, and then tell me you aren't grateful for my awesome gift."

Alfred rolled his eyes, but turned back to the disordered scene before him. He squinted at the strange blur of grey that was the source of all of the madness, trying to figure what it was. Then his eyes flew open wide, and his mouth dropped open in shock.

"That…that's…" he gasped. "That's Artemis! How did you-?" Alfred looked back at Prussia, surprise and glee in his expression. Prussia smiled, revealing a row of sharp white teeth.

"Don't worry about how I found her," Prussia said, waving a hand. "Just go and calm her down; I'm pretty sure Queenie over there won't be so kind if she ends up destroying the entire camp. And I think I'm right in saying that Artemis only answers to you."

Alfred grinned. "Thank you," he said seriously. "Thanks so much for everything."

"Ja, ja, I get it just go. And make sure to look in that satchel around her neck; remember what I told you earlier."

Alfred nodded before turning away and sprinting toward his horse. As fast as he could, he ran over to the camp and pushed soldiers out of his way, not bothering to look back at their annoyed shouts. He saw Artemis bucking in front of a group of men with ropes in their hands; Arthur and Yao were in the mix as well, trying to corner the wild animal. Without hesitation, Alfred shoved his way to the front of the crowd and threw himself in the horse's path. He stood in front of her with is arms spread wide and his feet firmly planted on the ground. Artemis whinnied loudly and started to stand on her back legs again.

"Alfred-!" Arthur cried- clearly in panic for whatever reason- and lurched forward before Yao pulled him backwards, away from danger like any good Jack would do. Alfred stood his ground, refusing to move.

"Artemis," he said clearly in German. "Artemis, it's me. It's Alfred."

Immediately, the silver horse landed back on the ground, her hooves making a loud thud as they hit the earth. Alfred smiled slightly to himself and moved toward her with his hand outstretched. However, Artemis was still scared and she shuffled away from him as quickly as he advanced. There was a crazy, frightened look in her dark eyes as she shook her head left and right. Alfred made a calm shh-ing noise, trying to calm her down.

"Artemis," he said again. "C'mon, you remember me, right? Alfred Jones? I raised you, remember? Old man Harry gave you to me for my birthday? Don't tell me you don't remember, we've been together for as long as I can remember."

He smiled brightly as best he could, and the horse slowly stopped moving. She kept her eyes trained on him as he neared. Alfred slowly raised his hand again and gently placed it on her neck. Artemis automatically relaxed, her tense muscles loosening up. She gazed at him, and Alfred saw recognition in her eyes. Only then did he allow himself to grin fully. He threw his arms around her neck in a tight hug. Artemis whinnied softly and nuzzled her head into his back. He laughed, relived and delighted that he still had something of his old life.

"Well, this is interesting." Yao said. Alfred turned around to see all of the Spades staring at him with wide eyes. Even Arthur had nothing to say for once, gaping at the teenager and horse standing together.

"You know this creature?" Yao asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Alfred said sheepishly, switching to Hoppípollan. "This is my horse from Hearts. Her name is Artemis; she's mine."

"If she belongs to Hearts, why is she here?" Yao coldly observed the two of them and Alfred protectively tightened his grip on Artemis' main. He didn't like the look in Yao's eyes, as if they were bugs that needed to be squished.

"I don't know," Alfred lied calmly. He didn't look back at the tree to see if Prussia was still there or not. "Maybe she missed me. She's loyal to me, though. She could have followed us from Alhliða."

"Impossible," Arthur dismissed, finally coming to his senses. "We've been checking, no one has followed us. That horse either traveled here magically, or someone in our division led her to us." He glared around at his men, but no one stepped forward to take the blame. Alfred smiled to himself; Arthur would never know about Prussia. In fact, the thought would probably never cross his mind.

Alfred risked the opportunity to glance back at the tree where he had eaten with Prussia. He could see the outline of the Joker, who was still standing there. As he stared out, Prussia's voice echoed in his head: 'Look inside of what it's carrying before the Spades get there;' he had said. 'You don't want them to search the thing before you can, or else they would find a very interesting surprise'. It sounded like a warning, if anything.

Panicked, Alfred automatically turned his back to the Spades and searched Artemis for a bag or a satchel. He needed to get to whatever Prussia wanted him to find before Arthur- or worse, Yao- realized what he was doing. He found a leather sack tied to Artemis' saddle and quickly opened it. He reached inside it. At first he felt nothing but the soft material of the sack, but then he reached the bottom. Something cool and smooth brushed up against his hand, and he grabbed the object and pulled it out into the afternoon light.

It was the Spades pocket watch.

Alfred's mouth fell open and his eyes bugged out; he had left the watch in the bedroom back in Alhliða. How did Prussia find it? Alfred had accidently left it on his bed after the vision because at the time he had been too worried about getting Kiku and Ludwig safe to bring it with him. He had just assumed that the Spades soldiers had missed it when they had searched the house, but ever since then he had been depressed that he would never get to see it again. The Spades clock was important to him, like an old toy of a child or a writer's favorite quill. He had become accustomed to it since it was always nearby, especially during the Gathering, and the fact that it was back in his possession was the best thing that had happened to him since becoming a Spades prisoner.

"What are you doing over there?" Arthur's voice broke through Alfred's thoughts. Alfred squeezed the watch, his knuckles turning white. Like hell he was going to let Arthur see this. Why Prussia had decided to give it back to him instead of taking it for himself, Alfred had no clue. But there was no way he was going to let Arthur take it away, regardless if it was of Spades origin. Alfred shoved the gold watch into his pocket, praying that it would be safe from the soldiers there. Putting on his best what-are-you-talking-about smile, Alfred faced the Spades again.

"I'm not doing anything," he said, keeping a straight face.

Arthur scowled. "Why is it that I don't believe you? Move away from the horse and let us search it. It could be carrying a bomb or explosives from Hearts for all I know."

Alfred was about to protest, but Arthur's men forcibly dragged him away from Artemis before he had the chance to do anything. He didn't struggle, knowing that it would be a pointless effort. Instead he quietly fumed while the Spades soldiers circled Artemis, searching for any kind of weapon. Alfred was relieved that he had the chance to search the sack before any of the Spades had, especially when Arthur started to search through it. It would've been terrible if they had found the Spades clock; he would have been devastated. Thank god Prussia had warned him or else Alfred would never have even thought about looking into the bag at all.

Finally when both Arthur and Yao had been satisfied with the search, they turned back to Alfred and men who were holding him. Arthur made a gesture at the soldiers and they immediately released Alfred. The teenager grimaced and rubbed his arms where the soldiers' grip had bruised his skin and scowled moodily at the Royals.

"Find anything?" he asked.

"No," Yao admitted. "Only the bag, which had nothing of importance in it."

"Great, awesome. Does that mean I can have her back now?" Alfred reached out a hand towards Artemis who was being led forward by a Spade. She stretched out her neck in his direction and whined softly. Arthur and Yao exchanged a glance.

"Well, I'm not sure if that would be for the best, Alfred." Arthur said.

Alfred stilled. "What do you mean?" he demanded angrily, taking a step towards Arthur.

"He means," Yao interrupted, stepping in Alfred's way. "That the horse is not yours. Not anymore. She barged straight into a Spades camp, destroying half of our supplies along the way, so she is therefore Spades property. It is up to Arthur and me to decide what to do with her. The horse is no longer your priority; I would suggest finding a better way to spend your time than to argue with us."

"If you think for one second that I'm going to give up the only thing that reminds me of my old life in Hearts, you must be crazy." Alfred said, trying to stay calm. "She's always been mine ever since I helped her mother give birth to her; she won't listen to anyone other than me! You'll be wasting your time if you think you can control her!"

Yao was seething, Alfred could tell; his hands were clenched at his side and his eyes were narrowed with dislike and anger. It gave Alfred the slightest bit of satisfaction that he had finally been able to annoy the Jack enough to make him lose a bit of his iron-like control.

"Do not assume that you can tell me what I can and cannot do," Yao said. "You are nothing but a prisoner of the Spades Army, you have no right-

"Oh, right. Of course, how could I forget? I am a slave of the wonderful, amazing, flawless Kingdom of Spades! But let me tell you something," Alfred said softly. "I am Alfred Jones, the Jack of Hearts, and I expect to be treated with some level of respect. I could contact my King and Queen at any time I want and tell them to declare war on Spades right away, regardless of the fact that I am in the Kingdom itself."

"You're bluffing," Arthur said. "There is no way you could possibly do that. We took away any means of communication from you."

"You don't know that," Alfred said confidently, hoping that the pair would believe his lie. Pretending to be a Royal was actually much easier than he had originally thought that it was going to be; all he had to do was act like a self-obsessed snob. And he was doing a pretty good job of it too since neither Yao nor Arthur had figured out the truth yet.

"You don't know what tricks I have up my sleeve," Alfred continued. "So I would suggest you let me keep my horse, or else, who knows what could happen."

Yao was furious. This time he was the one who took a step forward- probably to strangle Alfred with every bit of strength he had- but Arthur grabbed his sleeved and yanked him back, hard. Arthur muttered something into Yao's ear, talking so quietly that Alfred couldn't hear. Eventually, Yao started to calm down. His tense posture relaxed and his fisted unclenched.

"Are you sure?" he finally asked Arthur out loud.

Arthur nodded. "It can hardly do more harm than good; and he has promised not to run away. I see no reason to keep his horse from him."

Alfred's eyes widened at the Queen's words. "Does that mean you're letting me keep Artemis? Really?"

Arthur half smiled at Alfred's excitement; the first time since the Gathering. "Yes, the horse is yours." He snapped his fingers at the soldier nearest to Artemis and he quickly gave the reins to Arthur.

"I am trusting you with this," he said to Alfred before giving him the rope. "Don't make me regret my decision."

Alfred beamed. "You won't, I promise! Artemis, you can stay!" he threw his arms around her neck again and hugged her with all of his might. He breathed in the familiar smell of hay and dirt that still lingered from the Hearts stable, and squeezed his eyes shut. He laughed shakily at himself; he was already missing Hearts and it hadn't even been a full week yet. How pathetic.

Alfred shook his head and reopened his eyes to find himself staring out at the Spades landscape. Despite how he had joked before about Spades being beautiful, it really was something to different. Something unique. He looked out at the horizon and his gaze eventually fell on the tree that he had been tied to earlier. Prussia was still standing there, much to his surprise. As he watched, he saw the Joker solute once before blending into the background, like he had been nothing more than an image created by Alfred's imagination.

"Alfred!" Arthur called out, breaking his concentration. Alfred turned around.

"Yeah?"

"You can ride your horse until we reach the Castle, but then you must stay inside a carriage until we can get you inside without being seen. We don't want the citizens to know we're keeping a Heart hostage; it would be too much talk for my liking."

"Okay," Alfred agreed grudgingly and Arthur turned his back. Alfred would much rather ride Artemis all through the towns while laughing loudly like a mad man, but Arthur had let him keep her while Yao had been all for keeping them separated. He could be nice to Arthur, just this once.

Artemis nudged Alfred's head gently with her nose, and he stroked her neck with the palm of his hand.

"Don't worry," he told her as they stood together alone. "We'll be fine. I won't let anyone take you away from me; you're the only friend I have left."

-o0o-

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."  
Friedrich Nietzsche

-o0o-

Translations according to Google:

(German) Mein Gott- my god

Ja- yes

-o0o-

Background Information:

*When Prussia talks about the Plan, he's referring to this large book that is owned by the Jokers. Everything about anything is in this book; it has the entire history of the Suits, the biographies of every person that ever lived, what will happen in the future… literally everything, and more information is constantly being added into it magically. The Eternal Implements of the Triumvirates were made from the book, and that is how they get their powers. Jokers don't have Eternal Implements because they get full access to the Plan instead. The Wild Card completely changes the Plan because he/she affects everyone they come in contact with, forcing the people of all of the Suits to think and look at things differently. They practically rewrite the entire Plan because they literally change everything that was the norm in the Suits up until they were born. This is another reason why Wild Cards are so important.


	10. Spades Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Orriginally posted on FF.net on 3/3/2012.
> 
> I don't own anything.

Spades Castle

Alfred cupped his chin in his hand and stared out the window at the sprawling hills of Spades, bored. He didn't know how long he had been cooped up in the bedroom, but it had been at least an hour since Arthur had dumped him here. At first Alfred had tried to leave the room, but the door was locked. Luckily he had been able to unlock it with a pin that had been holding the curtains up, but he had come face to face with two Spades soldiers the second he had taken a step into the corridor. So here he was, waiting. Waiting for what, he had no idea. He just hoped that Arthur wouldn't forget that he had left Alfred in here, or worse starve him to death. That would be the worst.

There was the sound of raised voices from the corridor, and he watched the door warily. As much as he didn't want to be abandoned, he also didn't want to be the receiving end of some random stranger's anger. He didn't know to whom this room belonged to; Arthur had just shoved him in here and left without saying a word. What if the people came into this room? How would he explain why he was in here?

Alfred stood up as the voices drew closer and backed away so that he bumped into the stone wall opposite to the door. He grit his teeth and braced himself; he wasn't disappointed. There was a brief argument from directly outside before the door was flung open and a number of people entered. The person leaded the group was Arthur, of course. Behind him followed Yao, looking severely annoyed- not much of a change there- and a herd of men and women all wearing similar outfits that were less sophisticated than the two Royals'. They all carried an array of objects from riding cloaks, to a tray of foods, or even scrolls with quills and ink.

They must be servants, Alfred thought. But what are they all doing here with Arthur and Yao? Did something happen?

"Arthur- Arthur, calm down, you must think this through before making any rash decisions-" Yao was saying as Arthur marched into the room. Arthur turned on his heel and glared at his Jack, forcing the entire parade that had been following him to come to a sudden halt.

"I'm not making any rash decisions," Arthur said, obviously trying to hold in his anger. "I don't have any choice but to do as they ask, and neither do you! You are my Jack, you have to come with me whether you like it or not. We must leave immediately. Ready the horses," he told the servants and they scrambled to obey his orders as quickly as they could. They all exited the room, leaving the objects they had been holding on the bed. Only one man remained, but he did not speak and neither Arthur nor Yao criticized him for staying, so Alfred assumed that this servant was different from the others. Maybe he was a messenger or something; he was holding a scroll after all.

"Um, are you going somewhere?" Alfred asked, noticing that neither of the Royals had changed out of their traveling clothes yet. Arthur turned at the sound of his voice, his face strained.

"Yes," he said. "And there are some things I need to take care of with concern to you before I go."

"How long are you going to be gone for? Haven't you already been away for a while because of the Gathering?"

Arthur sighed tiredly, and Alfred almost felt sorry for him. Being ruler of a Kingdom wasn't exactly easy, after all.

"I'm not sure how long I'm going to be gone," he told Alfred. "A few days, at least. But don't worry, I've found someone to show you around the place in my absence." He gestured at the servant who handed the scroll over to Yao before standing beside his Queen.

"Alfred," said Arthur. "This is Toris Lorinaitis, one of the higher ranking servants in the Castle. He will be your guide and mentor until we can find something useful for you to do. Please just do as he says and try not to get into trouble before I return. You and Toris have a lot in common, so at least try to get along. I must be going." He nodded at the servant- Toris, Alfred reminded himself- before striding away towards the door.

"Wha- that's it?" Alfred asked.

Arthur turned around again, this time annoyed. "Is that what?"

"You're not going to put me in a dungeon or something? Aren't I your prisoner?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Do you want to be locked in the dungeon? Because, trust me, I can do that if you wish. That is something I would not regret doing."

"No!" Alfred yelped. "No! That would be awful, god, don't do that!"

"Then stop complaining," Arthur said. "And be happy that I'm letting you roam free for the time being. We will have to see what I plan to do with you when I come back. In other words, behave. I will see both of you in a few days time, hopefully."

"Good luck, Your Majesty." Toris said politely before Arthur could leave.

His expression softened. "Thank you, Toris." All three looked at Alfred.

He coughed. "Uh, bye. Have fun doing… whatever it is you have to do."

"I will try," Arthur said, looking somewhat amused at Alfred's choice of words. He exited the room, and Yao followed after scowling at Alfred for a moment.

The door shut, and there was a moment of awkward silence before Alfred said, "So, are you my bodyguard or something to make sure I don't run away?"

To his surprise, Toris chuckled. "No, sir. The Queen trusts your promise to him. I am just here to help you find your way around Spades until you can travel around on your own."

"O-oh," Alfred said, at lost for words.

Toris smiled and held out a hand. "I know that the Queen has already told you my name, but I would prefer to make my own introductions, if I may. My name is Toris Lorinaitis, Mister Jones. It is a pleasure to see you again."

Alfred automatically shook hands with the servant before he realized what was wrong with the sentence Toris had just said.

"Wait a second," Alfred frowned. "Did you just say 'it's a pleasure to see you again'? What do you mean; I have never seen you before in my life! And how do you know my name? What did England tell you?"

"The Queen has told me nothing except inform me of my duties to guide you around Spades," Toris said calmly. "We might not have been introduced before, Mister Jones, but I have seen you once, a long time ago."

"What? Where?" A tight knot formed in the pit of Alfred's stomach; what did this servant know about him? If Toris knew that he wasn't the Jack of Hearts, all of Alfred's planning would go to waste. Arthur might seriously hurt him if he knew the truth, and who knew how it would affect Arthur's ideas for Hearts; no one knew it yet, but a war could easily break out at any time between the two Kingdoms.

"I saw you the night you visited the Kingdom of Clubs first time with the Triumvirate of Hearts. You were with the Queen- Kiku Honda-, the King- Ludwig Beilschmidt-, and the Jack- Feliciano Vargas." Toris said, confirming what Alfred was thinking. "You were quite something that night, standing up to Ivan like you did; I was very impressed."

Alfred blinked. "You were?"

Toris nodded, his lips twitching at Alfred's confused expression. "Yes. Mister Jones, you see me now as the servant of Spades. But before I came here, I was Toris Lorinaitis, a member of the Royal Deck of Clubs."

Alfred recoiled from the other in shock. "You're a Royal from Clubs?"

"Yes, sir." Toris said.

"Then what are you doing here?" Alfred demanded angrily. "Royals' Tattoos don't change-"

"Oh, I can personally assure you that they can, Mister Jones." Toris said.

"Stop with the 'Mister Jones' thing!" Alfred groaned. "Are you here from Clubs to spy on me or something? Or do you just want to destroy the whole façade I've been putting up with for the past three days?"

"I am not here to spy on you; I am a citizen of Spades now." He reached down and pulled down the high sock around his left leg to show Alfred a blue Spades Tattoo clearly standing out against his pale skin. "Like I have said before, I am here to help you. I would never dream of harming you, Mister Jones."

Alfred stared at him warily, not willing to trust anyone especially after what had happened with Arthur. "I don't really believe you," he said slowly. "Why would your Tattoo change? And I said stop calling me Mister Jones! It's freaking me out."

"Of course, sir." Toris bowed his head respectfully, only succeeding in annoying Alfred more. "What should I call you instead?"

"Uh, how about Alfred? That is my name!"

Toris nodded. "Well Alfred, believe it or not, my Tattoo changed shortly after you came to visit Clubs."

Alfred's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Because of what happened that night."

"You mean the night of the banquet? How would that ever affect your Tattoo?" Alfred asked, confused. "It was a complete disaster, especially when I fought with Braginski."

Toris grinned. "That is what did it, I think."

"The fight? But why would-"

"I was amazed by how you stood up for your friend, even if he was the Queen; you were daring to fight against the strongest man in our entire Kingdom to defend him. No one in our Kingdom had ever done that before, and to say that I was surprised would be an understatement. Ivan had been a bully for ages, yet here you were, choosing to defy him even though the odds were stacked against you. At first, I thought you were foolish but then I watched as you struggled against him and I was amazed by how you stood your ground. It was…incredible, to say the least. You were confident, bold, strong, and brave and you managed to challenge Ivan like no one ever had. It forced me to think about where I stood in my Kingdom and how I thought about the people inside of it. I wanted to follow you after you were sent away and learn more about you, but I could not as you were already forbidden from returning. As a result, within a few days of seeing you, my Tattoo changed to a Spade. I was surprised not because of the change, but of what shape it had formed into. If anything, I thought my Tattoo would turn into a Heart so I could have the chance to meet up with you again." He smiled kindly at Alfred. "Funny how the world works, isn't it? I thought I would never see you after I moved to Spades, yet here you are, standing in front of me."

Alfred swallowed thickly. "You know who I am, though. You know that I'm not the Jack of Hearts. You realize that's the only reason England's brought me back here, right? If you tell him who I am, everything I've done up until now will be for nothing. He will kill me."

"Oh, no, I would never think of telling the Queen who you are!" Toris said with alarm. Alfred was surprised at how truthful his words were; he could see how the thought upset the servant. "Didn't I tell you before? I'm happy to show you around Spades; it's not that bad, really. Once you get used to it, you will grow to love it like I have."

"So…you won't tell England about my true identity then?" Alfred asked skeptically.

"No, of course not." Toris said. "Alfred, I admire your compassion for your friends greatly. It was you who helped me find my true home, here in Spades. I want to help you now, and only ask you for the chance for you to accept Spades as you see it. Please don't judge it all just on the actions of our Queen, though I am sure he had a good reason for bringing you here."

"You don't know why I was arrested then?" Alfred's heart sunk.

"No, I'm afraid not. But I'm sure all will be reveled in time. For now there is nothing to do but to let me show you around your new home." Toris walked over towards the door and gestured Alfred to follow. The teenager sighed, but did as he was asked. As entered the hallway, Alfred turned to look at Toris sideways.

"You said you were a member of the Clubs' Royal Deck," he said.

Toris' face fell. "Yes, that is true. What about it?"

"What was your title?"Alfred asked, honestly curious.

"Lithuania. Number Seven."

"Well, Lithuania," Alfred said with a grin. "I'm glad that the first person I met here is someone like you. Maybe in the future we can become friends."

Toris gave a smile small in return. "I would like that, Alfred. I hope in time that you will be able to meet others and become friends with them as well. This place is your new home, after all."

Alfred shrugged. "We'll see," he said doubtfully. It didn't matter what anyone else said about Spades, Hearts was his true home, and he would never forget that.

-o0o-

"First things first," Toris said cheerfully as he strode down the hallway. Alfred had to nearly jog to keep up with him, the servant was moving so quickly. "You need new clothes."

"What do you mean?" Alfred asked defensively. "My clothes are fine; they're from the Gathering. No one can tell I'm from Hearts in this."

"Yes, but no one can tell if you're from Spades, either. And please don't tell me that you want to wear the same shirt and pants for the rest of your life. No, you need new clothes; proper Spades clothes." He halted suddenly, and Alfred almost bumped into him. They were standing in front of a large door, old wooden and worn out. Toris turned back to Alfred.

"This is the Royal, eh, Clothing Room I guess you could say. This is where all of the outfits for the Queen and Jack are made, as well as all of the Numbers. The women in here also sew, do embroidery and mend other cloth-like fabrics. Here we can get you measured, then go into town and get you your new clothes."

"That seems like a lot of stuff to do just to get me something to wear," Alfred whined.

"Cheer up," Toris said with a smile. "It's not that bad, the girls are very nice and they love to meet new people." With that he pushed the doors open and walked inside. After a moment of hesitation, Alfred followed.

The room was huge, covered from top to bottom in fabric ranging in all shades of blue and purple. The floor was covered with silk, cotton, satin, and velvet, all looking as if they would cost a fortune. There were windows on the opposite wall that stretched to the ceiling, revealing the beautiful countryside of Spades. Woman of all ages were scattered across the room; girls no older than five were struggling with a needle and string while seniors with wrinkled hands patiently helped them along, women in their twenties chatted happily with each other as they compared color schemes, and a group of teenagers were giggling in a corner to their right. Alfred was surprised by the amount of people in the room, and the easy feel of which they worked together. If there was ever a room like this in the Hearts Castle, he had never come across it.

"Surprised?" Toris asked, clearly amused at Alfred's expression.

"Yeah," Alfred breathed. He looked around the room with wide eyes. "I've never seen anything like this before!"

"There wasn't a place like this in your home?"

"No, I mean, we never really needed one. There were special people that made the Triumvirate's clothes, but everyone mainly knew how to mend or make their own clothes."

Toris' brow furrowed. "You were all taught in the trade of sewing? Does that mean you all worked as seamstresses?"

"What? No, of course not! It's just, if we were ever in a battle or something, we would need to able to take care of ourselves. And knowing how to sew is important to survive if you are in the middle of nowhere and need to keep warm or make a bandage. It's not that we were taught how to do it for a job, we were taught it because it is a necessary skill for war."

"Oh," Toris said. "I suppose that makes sense, but it is not a war time. It is peaceful now."

Alfred's face darkened. "For now it is," he muttered.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Alfred said shaking his head. He really didn't need Toris to worry about war between Spades and Hearts since he didn't even know for sure if it would happen yet or not. Right now, he just wanted to focus on how to live in Spades without drawing attention to himself.

Toris looked worried. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could there was a loud squeal and instantly they were surrounded by a gaggle of teenage girls.

"Hello, Toris!" one of them greeted cheerfully in English. Toris' face melted back into his normal smile, much to Alfred's relief.

"Hello, girls. How are you?"

"Good! Is there something you need?" all the while, they kept sneaking glances at Alfred. Whenever he caught one of them staring, she would give a small squeak and turn away while giggling with her friends. Alfred was perplexed by the entire situation; were they happy to see him or nervous? Did he look weird or something? Was that why they were all staring at him?

"Yes, actually. I need your help measuring my friend here; he just came here from the countryside and lost all of his clothes on the way. He needs to be measured so we can go to the village and buy him some more."

The girls exchanged delighted looks with each other and Alfred watched them warily. What were they going to do to him?

"What's his name?" another girl asked. "I've never seen him around before." She boldly met Alfred's gaze when he turned to her, refusing to back down. He frowned in response, not liking the way she watched him.

"Alfred Jones," Toris answered. "He came here looking for work from the farmland. He doesn't know much English or Chinese, but I'm sure if you talk in Hoppípollan-"

"I will be the judge of that." The girl said. She walked forward and the girls moved out of her way so that she could stand in front of Alfred. She held out her hand in front of her.

"The name is Abigail. And what is yours?"

"Alfred Jones," he responded in English, surprising everyone and shook hands with her. She had a firm handshake; the kind military women would have in Hearts. "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."

She grinned in reply. "So you do know English then."

"A bit," he admitted.

"Thought so; you look English, maybe even American. Where exactly do you come from-?"

"Alfred, why didn't you tell me you spoke English?" Toris interrupted. "It would have saved me quite some time."

He shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry Toris."

"Do you know Chinese too?" a different girl spoke this time. Her hair was dark in color but her skin was pale. Her eyes tilted up slightly at the ends, reminding Alfred of Kiku for a moment. He winced and repressed the memory before he could think about it anymore.

"Yes," he said in Chinese. The girl beamed.

"Don't worry, Toris." Abigail spoke up again. "We'll take good care of him. Just stand by the door and we'll have him measured up in no time." The girls started to pull on Alfred's clothes, dragging him towards a corner of the room that was separated by a curtain. Alfred looked back at Toris with alarm, but the man just smiled and waved.

"Wha- what are you doing?" Alfred asked nervously.

"Measuring you, of course." Abigail rolled her eyes. "Just hurry up and stand behind the curtain and take your clothes off." She gave him a little push.

"Wait- what? All of my clothes?"

"Well, not your underwear obviously, but everything else, yes. C'mon, don't be a baby." And with that they shoved him behind the curtain, giggling all the while.

-o0o-

Toris was grinning when Alfred managed to stumble back over to him.

"So? How did it go?"

"I just got attacked by a group of teenage girls and you're just standing there and smiling." Alfred grumbled and stalked past Toris. The other laughed out loud and jogged to catch up.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Toris said, still smiling.

"You weren't the one in there!" Alfred cried. "God, no girl ever did that to me in Hearts."

"You're new," Toris said and shrugged as if this was a good explanation. "Do you have the measurements?"

"Yeah, here." Alfred handed him a sheet of paper. Toris read it over then flipped it to see the back and raised his eyebrows.

"Why are there names and addresses on the back of this?" he asked Alfred.

"That's all of their names and places where they live." Alfred growled. "Said that if I needed a guide and you weren't available that they would be happy to help." Toris laughed again.

"They are the over-helpful type especially when they see someone they like." He said and pocketed the paper. The other grimaced.

"Where are we going now?" Alfred asked. "To the village?"

"Eventually, but I think I should give you a tour of the Castle before we go. At least now that I know you understand the Spades' languages you shouldn't have hard time learning where everything is."

Alfred grimaced. "Sorry for not telling you, by the way."

"It's alright, but- if you don't mind me asking- how do you know the languages? Few people bother to learn the tongues of those other than the ones of their own Kingdom."

"I'm good with languages; I know all of the main ones in every Suit." Alfred said.

Toris' eyes widened. "Really? What about Russian? Or Hungarian or Austrian?"

"Yep, I know those too. But out of all the ones I've learned that aren't part of Hearts, English came the easiest to me. It was kinda like I already knew how to speak it, I just didn't realize it."

"So…you learn quickly?" Toris reasoned.

"I guess. I mean, I've never thought about it before."

"Turn here," Toris said and they both went to the right. Toris stared at Alfred with a frown. "What do you mean you've never thought about it before? Didn't you go to school? Or did your parents teach you everything?"

"I never knew my parents," Alfred said. "And we don't really have a school; every kid in Hearts goes to military training and that's where we learn everything we need to know. Other than that we don't really learn anything else."

"Don't you have libraries or scholars? What about Universities?"

"Uh, I know that there are a few libraries in some of the villages, and there's a huge one in the Castle."

"I don't understand then how you were able to teach yourself the other languages then." Toris said.

"I'm friends with the Queen, remember? Kiku loved books and learning new stuff unlike most of the other people in the Kingdom. I can't tell you how many times I ended up spending an entire day in the Hearts Castle Library with him. I know a little bit more about the world than other Hearts because of that."

"Interesting," Toris said thoughtfully. "You should be impressed with our library then if you are not used to large libraries."

"Oh really?" Alfred grinned.

"Yes, I guarantee it is double the size of whatever library you visited in Hearts."

"And why would that be?" Alfred asked as Toris slowed down.

"Well, Diamonds are known for their jewels and precious metals, Clubs are known for their luck and extreme weather conditions, and Hearts are known for their fighting skills and their ability to deal with others. Spades, on the other hand, is known for their knowledge and cleverness. Therefore, the libraries and schools of this land are truly quite something. Remind me to get you a proper teacher later and you will understand what I mean."

Toris turned the corner before Alfred had the chance to reply. Alfred followed, and stopped short next to Toris when he saw what was in front of them.

It was a huge archway that reached all the way up to the ceiling, decorated with complicated designs made from stone. Vines curled around the pillars on either side and small candles were attached to them, giving the whole appearance a mystical feel to it. Inside of the archway was a room that was so large that it could easily fit twenty village houses without it being too crowded.

And along the walls, on the floor, on shelves, on tables and chairs, were books. There were millions upon millions of books ranging from a few pages to glossaries a foot thick; some of them were brand new, while others were old and yellow. People of all ages and professions were scanning the pages, and Alfred could even see some soldiers in armor parading around. Not only that, but there was talking and laughter where he would have expected complete silence and concentration.

The part of the library that wasn't books was beautiful in its own right. It was decorated as if it was a ballroom or the throne room rather than a mere storage place. The floor was a rich blue carpet, and the walls were covered with elite paintings of Spades. Windows were scattered everywhere, even on the ceiling, letting as much natural light in as possible. And where there weren't windows was light fixtures dangling from the bookcases. There were seats and tables everywhere too; sometimes cushions or couches with small tables, others stiff wooden chairs and stone hard tables made from marble.

Toris was right; the Spades Castle Library was astounding.

"So, what did I tell you?" Toris said. He looked proudly at the Library as if it had been his singular idea to make it. "Isn't it something, Alfred?"

Alfred closed his gapping mouth and nodded. "That it is," he managed to say through his shock. "You guys must really like books."

Toris chuckled.

"That we do," he said. "I will give you a complete tour of it another day. Right now we must continue on our way. I promise to let you hear a philosopher speech too, if we can find time." He gently tugged on Alfred's sleeve, pulling the still surprised teenager away from the Library. Alfred eventually got the message and trudged along after his guide.

"Where to next?" he asked.

"The Kitchen, I think." Toris said. "I assume you're hungry?" Alfred nodded. "Good. After that we will go to the Armory and the Shooting Range- the military training area in general. I think you'll like that part."

"Okay," Alfred agreed. "Just, can you tell me one thing?"

"Of course."

"Spades food isn't as bad as England's cooking, is it?"

Toris blinked. "You've tried the Queen's food?"

Alfred made a face. "Unfortunately."

Toris laughed out loud at the statement. "You have no need to worry about that. Not all of the English are terrible cooks; however, few of them work in the Spades Castle Kitchen. I am sure you will find the food here to the best of your standards."

Alfred nodded, but was still a bit skeptical. This was still Arthur's people after all and he was used to the high quality food of Italians, Germans and Japanese. But, he was brave and the food really couldn't be that bad. Hopefully.

-o0o-

Much to Alfred's relief, Toris offered to cook the lunch himself for the both of them. That way, Alfred could explore and talk to the rest of the crew. The Kitchen itself was big and extravagant, but not as large or advanced as the one at Hearts. Which was fine, of course, just different.

It was an interesting experience that was for sure. The Kitchen was extremely loud and lively, but in a good way. Everyone was constantly on the move, and Alfred had even been asked to help out with simple tasks once or twice even thought they didn't have a clue of who he was. He found himself laughing along with the crew and introducing himself before Toris dragged him over to eat the food he cooked. By the time they finished lunch, several of the cooks knew Alfred's name.

The Armory, Shooting Range, and anything that pertained to the Army or fighting was called the Military Training Area (MTA for short). It was smaller than Hearts training grounds, but that was to be expected since Hearts was a fighting Kingdom and Spades was a books kind of place. Another thing that was different was the types of weapons in the Armory. Alfred was one hundred percent sure that Hearts had every kind of weapon available, but there were defiantly some things in there that he had no idea what they were.

"Toris, what is this?" Alfred asked curiously. He was holding up some strange contraption that had screws and a thin tube made of plastic. It was made completely of wood, but implanted in it were thin sheets of some type of silver metal that were pointy at the tips.

"Oh, that thing?" Toris headed over to him, breaking off a conversation with another soldier. "Sometimes people from the village drop off their inventions for weapons here, and anyone who wants to try them out can. If it turns out to be something great, it's usually tested out by the Jack and Queen and then its mass produced for the rest of the army. This weapon in particular was probably dropped off recently; I haven't seen it here before. Oh, and just make sure to-"

Alfred poked a red button on its side and instantly one of the silver darts shot out at stunning speed. Toris ducked with a yelp and it whizzed over his head before crashing into the opposite wall.

"I- I'm sorry!" Alfred cried as Toris stood back up. "I swear, I had no idea-"

"Alfred, I'm fine." Toris reassured him. "But as I was saying before, you need to be careful. These weapons haven't been fully tested; they could hurt people. If you train here, you can use them. But for right now, try not to pick up something you don't know about."

Alfred nodded. "Sorry," he said again.

Toris smiled softly. "It's alright. Just be careful."

"I will," Alfred promised.

"Good. Are you ready to head to the village then?"

"Will I be able to come back here?" Alfred wanted to try out some more of the weapons for himself; who knew what some of these new inventions did!

"Of course, but I am not sure if the Queen will allow you to spend a lot of your time here."

Alfred winced, reminding himself that he was still a prisoner regardless of how much freedom he had been given.

"Don't worry, Alfred." Toris said as they headed out of the Armory. "I do not think that the Queen will be that harsh on you. In fact, I am surprised by how well he is treating you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've been here for several years. But when I first arrived, I had to learn my way around on my own; I had no guide or help like you do. Slowly I've been able to win the favor of the Royals of Spades because of my dedication to this Kingdom. And as a result, I run errands and do special favors for the Queen and Jack."

"What are you saying?"

"Well, because of my job I know the Triumvirate a bit better than most in the Castle. I know their personalities and their habits; I know them. So, I think that it is fair for me to say that it is rare occurrence when the Queen treats someone with as much respect or consideration as he has with you. And that's including the citizens of his Kingdom."

"I don't understand," Alfred said as they traveled farther from the Castle and onto a winding dirt path. "Why would England care about me? I'm the enemy, according to him."

"I'm not sure," Toris admitted. "I guess only time will tell."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, continuing on the old path. Alfred shoved his hands in his pockets and stared around at the scenery. Right now, the road was going through a patch of dense trees. It was worn out, so it had to be used often, but for what purpose? It was too small for horses or carriages to travel on, so that meant that only people used it.

"This way," Toris said, breaking Alfred's concentration. He was standing to the left in front an uprooted tree as the path curved away to the right.

"What is this?" Alfred asked as he joined his guide.

"It's a secret passageway to the village," Toris said. "Well, actually it's not that secret since almost all of the servants know where it is." He climbed over the uprooted tree and waited patiently for Alfred to follow.

"Why don't you just take the main road that all of the horses and carriages use? Wouldn't that be easier?"

Toris shook his head. "It's too crowded. And you need to show proof that you work in the Castle before entering or leaving Royal grounds. Trust me, this way is much easier." He pulled back a few branches to reveal a fence made of iron. There was a noticeable hole, large enough for people to sneak in and out of. Beyond the thicket Alfred could barely make out the sound of voices and the cries of animals.

"This will lead us to the village?" Alfred turned back to Toris.

"Yes. We just need to get to the other side of the fence and it will be right there."

"And then I can finally get some new clothes?" Alfred grinned.

Toris laughed. "Yes, you can. I think you will like the village." He continued to say as Alfred slid through the hole.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"A lot of the people are like you. They are a lively bunch who goes back and forth between pleasing the Royals and having their own fun."

Alfred opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when he saw the back of a hut appear out of the trees. Toris simply walked around the side of the small house, almost leaving the teenager behind.

"Toris! Is it okay for us to just go on another person's property like this? Isn't it like trespassing or something?" Alfred hissed when he had caught up. Toris raised his eyebrows.

"Of course not. The people who own this hut are used to servants walking in and out of their backyard by now. It's mostly used for storage anyways. No need to worry, Alfred. Most of the people in the village are very friendly; if you were homeless, you would probably be invited to stay overnight in every house in the town."

"Really?" Alfred asked, surprised.

"Yes, really." Toris smiled. "Let's continue."

Toris led Alfred around the side of the house, revealing a bustling road made from stone. The street was crowded with carts and people all trying to move about, but they all seemed good natured and greeted each other with smiles and waves. Alfred could smell all kinds of foods being prepared on the streets, and even from the huts through an open window. The noises made from the crowd were loud and cheerful. Not at all overbearing.

And everything was made almost entirely of blue and grey; shinning stones, silver colored baskets, dull grey shoes, blue cloth, indigo carts, and purple flowers. Most of the food being sold was of the same color scheme as well: blueberries, plums, grapes and other things he had no name to match with. Alfred was so surprised at the difference in color from his own Kingdom that for several seconds he could do nothing but gape openly.

"The clothing store is this way, Alfred." Toris said. The teenager blinked and Toris smiled in amusement.

"Sorry," Alfred said again for the third time that day. "I didn't mean to…to…"

"To stare?" Toris asked and Alfred nodded. "Don't worry about it; everything here will be strange to you at first, but I'm sure you will get used to it eventually. I did."

"Was Clubs as different from Spades as it is from Hearts?" Alfred said as they headed towards the crowd.

"I imagine so, but I have never been to Hearts so I can't really answer." He looked back at Alfred with another smile before turning to the street. "Stay close to me, you can get lost easily in here if you don't know the way."

The farther they traveled into the town, the more interesting and weird everything got. The buildings turned from simple huts, to tall, elaborate buildings double in size. The people changed too; instead of uncomplicated, comfortable clothes, they were wearing long robs with heavy jewelry and strange hats. Less and less carts appeared on the sides and crowds hovered on corners, listening to men professing theories and science. It was one of the weirdest things Alfred had ever experienced.

"Is it normal for people to crowd around while a guy talks about science?" Alfred asked loudly over the voices of the villagers.

"Yes, there are many professors that travel through the village." Toris said. "Everyone likes to hear them speak, and it is interesting what they say. You should attend one if you can."

"Maybe," Alfred said skeptically. "But I'm not really a patient type of guy."

"Maybe your mind will change," Toris suggested. "I know mine did. Here, this is it." Toris grabbed Alfred's sleeve and pulled him aside so that he wouldn't be taken away by the crowd. Alfred blinked and stared up at the store. It wasn't anything big, but it looked nice. Toris walked forward, opened the door and beckoned Alfred to follow.

"Toris! Back here again, are you?" said a scolding voice. Alfred turned to find a large woman standing with her arms crossed. She glared at Toris, but there was amusement in her eyes that showed that she wasn't serious about being mad at him. Behind her Alfred could barely see the outline of a small girl peeking out. Alfred grinned at her, and the girl ducked out of sight again, blushing red.

"Sorry, Maria." Toris said. "You know how it is in the Castle."

The woman snorted. "You know I do. Couldn't make me spend another bloody second in that place even if you paid me to. So, what're you here for this time?"

"Uh, Alfred, this is my good friend, Maria. She was one of the first people who helped me settle in Spades when I came here." Toris explained while the two shook hands.

"Hi, Maria." Alfred said and she nodded, looking him over.

"Alfred needs new clothes." Toris told her. "Can you help him find something? I have the measurements here." He handed her the paper. She read it over quickly, her eyes narrowed.

"Did you get this from the sewing girls in the Castle?" she asked Alfred abruptly, surprising him.

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"No, those girls are idiots but at least the one thing they are good at is their job." She handed him the paper back before turning her back on him.

"Oi, Rica!" She yelled. "Come over here! I need you to take care of this customer!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Relax, Maria." A girl walked out from behind a curtain in the back of the store. She was older than the child hiding behind Maria, but most defiantly younger than Alfred. And smaller too. She had large eyes like that of a doe and long wavy hair that cascaded down her back like a black waterfall. She wore a simple white skirt with bands of different shades of blue around its edges. Her blouse was white too, and both pieces complimented her tanned skin tone.

When she made her way to the front of the store, she stared at Alfred with as much surprise as he felt; he had never seen another girl like her. Her brown eyes moved up and down, looking him over much like Maria had done. Then Toris cleared his throat awkwardly and the girl- Rica?- looked away, her cheeks reddening.

"Hello, Rica." Toris said kindly.

"Toris," she said. She had a strange accent, Alfred noted. A type he had never heard before; it sounded kinda Italian, but a little harsher, almost.

"Rica, this is Alfred Jones. Alfred, this is Rica."

"Oh, er, hi." He half-smiled and she blushed harder.

"Rica!" Maria said and handed Rica the paper. "Here, help him find something appropriate to wear."

"Si, Maria. Um, sir, can you follow me por favor?" she asked Alfred. Together they headed towards the back of the store while Maria, the smaller girl, and Toris stayed in the front. Their voices faded as Alfred and Rica walked farther away. They stopped and Rica pulled away a curtain to reveal a large back room filled with cloth and sewing materials. Alfred followed her as she moved to the right and began opening draws, searching for something.

"So, Rica, huh?" Alfred said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he tried to find something to say. Rica paused and turned to smile at him.

"I know, weird name right?"

"Yeah," Alfred said, happy that she hadn't taken his comment as an insult. "How'd you get a name like that?"

"Well, it's a nick name Maria came up with when I started working with her. She always forgot my real name so she came up with 'Rica' instead." she said with a shrug. "But I like it. I think it suits me."

"Why is that your nick name?" he asked.

"I come from a small town someplace on the edge of Spades, and it's called Puerto Rico. So, Maria just changed Rico to Rica and there you go. Rica is the name that everyone knows me as, so there's no point in changing it by now." She went back to rummaging in the draw and Alfred saw her eyes light up as if she had found something she liked.

"Here," she said and shoved a pile of clothes into his arms. "Hold that for a sec. Wait, come over here!" she ran across the room, and he tried to follow as quickly as he could without tripping. She started checking out the different shelves, sometimes throwing scarves or hats on top of the growing pile in his arms. Alfred could tell that she knew her way around the place pretty well since she seemed to know exactly what she was looking for and where it was.

"I'm guessing you've been here for a long time?" he asked her while he tried to balance the clothes.

"Oh yeah," he heard her say. "I've been here for like six years; ever since I was a little girl. I came here to help to make money for my family. But now I can't imagine living anyplace but here; the Castle is amazing! And you never get bored, that's for sure. Not with the Royals always traveling through the town to get to the Castle and their servants rushing around trying to get the stuff they need. I love it here. What about you?" Rica appeared next to him and took some of the load out of his arms, placing it onto the table.

"Me?"

"Yeah, how long have you been here? I haven't seen you around before so you probably haven't been here for very long."

"Uh, I just got here today actually." Alfred said as they finished placing all of the clothes Rica had collected onto the table.

"Wow, you're really new than! Did you see the Queen or the Jack yet? They just arrived back here today too from the Gathering."

"I think I might've seen them for a second; I was in the Castle this morning." Alfred lied. As much as he thought Rica was a nice girl, he really didn't want anyone but Toris to know why he was in Spades or how much he had come in contact with its Triumvirate. He had to keep the truth about himself a secret if he was going to survive here.

"Oh, you work in the Castle then." Rica said thoughtfully as she held a shirt. She looked back at him, and then the shirt, before shaking her head and throwing it onto a separate pile. "That's why you're with Toris?"

"He's showing me around and helping me out until I know my way around the place." He said, watching Rica with curiosity. "What are you doing, by the way?"

"Well, there's a certain dress code if you work in the Castle." She explained. "What you wear has to be a little bit more uptight than village clothing, so I'm trying to find you something that will be comfortable yet appropriate at the same time. Ah! Here we go," she gave him a bundle of clothes and shoved him behind a screen in the corner of the room.

"Try that on and tell me what you think," She instructed before turning and walking away.

Alfred heard her pull out a chair next to the table and sit down as he examined what she had chosen. It wasn't anything fancy, which was good; a blue vest, dark grey pants and a long sleeved white shirt with a Spade shape on the upper sleeves. He shrugged out of his Gathering clothes, wincing when they hit the floor with a loud thump. That would be the watch, he thought to himself as he fit on the new clothes Rica had got him. He reached down and fumbled through his pockets before he found the Spades clock again. He tried to see if it had been damaged or not in anyway, but it was hard to tell in the shade of the screen.

"You okay in there?" Rica called out. Alfred nearly dropped it in surprise.

"Uh, yeah, hold on a sec." he shoved the watch in the vest pocket before stepping in front of the screen for Rica to see. She smiled at him and then started to laugh when he bowed down to her like she was Royalty.

"So, what do you think?" he asked her.

"Hmm," Rica circled him, looking over the clothes with a trained eye. She smoothed out a wrinkle in the vest and then beamed.

"It's perfect." She said. "Absolutely one hundred percent perfect."

Alfred blinked. "Really?"

"Yes," she insisted. "The color blue- it really suits you, you know?"

"I guess," he frowned. He had never worn any shade of blue in Hearts. Everyone wore the respective color of their own Kingdoms; green for Clubs, orange and yellow for Diamonds, red for Hearts, and finally blue for Spades. In fact, it was almost weird to see himself in blue and grey instead of the dark red he had always worn back home.

"Do you like it?" Rica's face fell.

"No, no, I like it!" Alfred said quickly. "I like it a lot! Trust me, its fine!" He placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"Good, I'm glad." She said, obviously comforted. "Just give me back the vest; I think that's a size too small for you."

"Oh, okay." He shrugged out of the vest and handed it over to her. She took it and sat back down, playing with the stitching at the shoulders. Alfred sat down across from her and cupped his chin with his hands, staring off into space. He wondered if Artemis was alright. He hadn't seen her since they had arrived at the Castle, and had hadn't even thought of her until now because he had been moving nonstop once he had met Toris. Maybe he could convince the servant to show him where the stable was before it was time to stop for the day.

"Alfred?" Rica's voice interrupted his thought process. He blinked and his eyes focused on the seamstress. She was staring at something in her hands, a frown on her face. Alfred saw a flicker of gold between her fingers and he froze.

"Alfred, what is this?" she asked, holding up the Spades clock by its chain.

"Er, it's nothing." He said, trying to keep calm. On the inside, he was panicking. What did she think it was? "Its-"

To his surprise, Rica smiled at him. "It's one of those toy Eternal Implements some of the merchants were selling before, right?" she asked, poking the watch on its side so that it swung back and forth hypnotically.

"…yeah. It's one of those things." He said, relief and confusion rushing through him in equal measures. He was glad that Rica didn't think anything of the watch, but at the same time he didn't understand what she was saying. Eternal Implement? What was she saying? Did she think that the watch was-?

"This is a really good replica," Rica said as she admired it. "It's the right weight and everything. Especially those jewels; they look so real!" she cast him a sly glance, grinning. "Are you sure this isn't the real Eternal Implement of the King of Spades?

Alfred frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you haven't heard?" she asked.

"Heard what?"

She lowered her voice, as if afraid of being overheard. "Washington D.C. - the King's Eternal Implement, you know- is missing. I mean, the discovery was very recent, not everyone knows about yet so it makes sense that you don't know. They only realized it during the Gathering while the Queen and Jack and everyone else was gone."

"Do they know how long it's been gone for?" Alfred's stomach flipped uncomfortably.

She shrugged. "No. Like I said, they just discovered it's been missing. It's weird that someone would steal it though because no one even knows how to use the watch anyways, much less know where to find it."

"Ah, right." Alfred said, feeling strangely disconnected and light headed. What had he done?

"It's only been a few days, but ever since these toys have been popping up and the kids love them." She handed the watch back to Alfred who took it as if it were as fragile as a bird.

"Do you have a younger sibling that you bought that for?" Rica asked.

"No, I don't have anyone." Alfred said absentmindedly. He wasn't really paying attention, too busy staring at the thing in his hands.

"No one?" Rica repeated and he looked up at the tone in her voice. "No brothers or sisters or parents or anything?"

He shook his head.

"Me too," she said and he stared at her curiously before she blushed.

"I- I mean," she stammered. "I have parents, of course, but no siblings."

"Oh," he said and there was an awkward silence.

"Alfred?"

They both jumped slightly and Toris' face appeared from behind the curtain.

"Toris," Rica said. They both stood up and Alfred hid the watch behind his back so that it was out of sight.

"How is it going? Did you find everything you need?" Toris glanced at Alfred who smiled as normally as he could.

"Yes, I just need to find some formal clothes- for the balls and events like that." She explained to Alfred. She turned away and rushed around the room trying to find the outfits Alfred should have while Toris approached him. Toris placed his hands on Alfred's shoulders and looked him up and down. Finally, his face broke out into a full blown smile.

"You look great." He said.

"You think so?" Alfred asked.

"Yes! I mean, gosh, it looks like these were made specifically for you. I think you're really going to like it here, Alfred. Please, just give Spades a chance."

He grimaced. "I'll try." He said, clenching the clock behind his back.

-o0o-

Within the next few days, Alfred came to recognize and even get to know some of the other people who worked in the Castle. He was especially comfortable with the Kitchen crew and the servants who worked in the Stables. Both groups were lively and cheerful; similar to Alfred in personality, and yet different in a way that surprised him. Unlike Hearts, all of the Spades were well educated and knew a great deal about other Kingdoms in addition to their own; they carried around a sense of intelligence and knowledge that Alfred had only seen in some of the Japanese back at his home.

Regardless of this, none of them seemed to realize that he was an intruder, an alien to their world. None of them questioned if he was a Spade or not, but then again, they had no reason to do so. They all assumed that he was a Spade who had originally lived in the country side and had moved to the Capital to make money. Some of them asked him why a high ranking servant like Toris was the one showing him around when in truth any servant could do so, but he just shrugged since he didn't really know the answer either. Why had Arthur taken such care in making sure that Alfred would be alright? Was it because he thought Alfred was the Jack, or was it something more?

Alfred didn't have much time to dwell on the question as the time passed; every day he was woken up at the crack of dawn by Toris and neither of them stopped moving until the moon was high in the night sky. Since Toris had no idea what job Alfred should be assigned to do, he just let the teenager follow him around and occasionally help the other servants. By doing so, Alfred learned more about Spades then he had originally glanced upon his first day.

The first thing he noticed was that there were many objects in the Spades Kingdom that he had never seen before; baskets that moved through the Castle on wires, candle-like objects that glowed if someone spun a dial on its side, glass that moved and shifted as if made of water, and even flowers of copper and bronze. A lot of objects in Spades were made of metal, but that was probably because the Kingdom was closely tied with Diamonds. Another thing Alfred noticed was that there were a great number of circular dials with edges sticking out, and it often fit into another dial's wedges. This way, when one moved so did the other, creating a spinning mass of dials which most of the time made some type of reaction.

He tried not to act too shocked whenever an unfamiliar object suddenly came to life next to him- which happened more often than not- but one of the servants usually took the time to explain to him what the thing was and what it did. No one seemed to mind helping him get used to the surroundings; they explained to him that most of the country folk were unused to the technology in the Castle and Capital Town*. Toris had been right when he had said that the people here were lively and helpful.

The few people who really didn't show any effort into getting to know Alfred were the Spades soldiers who had attacked the Hearts Triumvirate at the Gathering. They knew that Alfred was the enemy and didn't mind spending every opportunity they could to bother him.

On the sixth day and fifth night since Alfred had arrived in Spades, he found himself running along a dark corridor in the Castle. He had no idea where he was going- Toris wasn't with him- but he didn't really care either. All he wanted to do was escape from the sight of the soldiers who were chasing him; he had accidently bumped into two of them on the way to the Kitchen and they had decided that that was a good enough reason to pick a fight with him. And even though it was against his training, Alfred knew it was a bad idea to go up against two big hulks that could probably pin him down and punch him until he was knocked out senseless. So, he did the only thing he could do. Run.

Breathing heavily, Alfred took the chance to look back at his pursuers. They might have been bigger than him, but they defiantly not faster. Their footsteps were far away enough now that if he hid in a room, they would have no idea. He quickly looked around for a door- any door would do, as long as it wasn't locked- and found one down at the end of the hallway. Lowering his head and speeding up, he ran head first towards the door.

In his haste he crashed into the wood, slamming his shoulder against its surface. Pain shot up his arm, but he ignored it and twisted the knob several times only to find that the door would not budge. Alfred glanced back down the hallway and inwardly cursed when he heard the soldiers coming closer.

"Oh, Ace please help me." He whispered. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned the handle.

The door swung inward and Alfred almost fell on his face in surprise. He automatically caught himself from falling and shut the door behind him. He was swallowed in darkness; there was no moonlight coming from the windows, if there were any, but a small beam of light came from the crack underneath the door. He heard the loud footsteps of the soldiers near his hiding place and pressed his back against the wood just in case they decided to enter.

"Where did he go?" one of them hissed.

"I don't know, do I?" the other mumbled. Alfred smirked; for Spades, they really weren't all that smart.

"Alright, I'll go to the left, you go right." The first said. "This guy is so annoying; thinks he's the King of the Castle. All high and mighty because he comes from-"

"Shh, you don't want the whole palace to hear! If we tell anyone, we're dead! Dead I tell ya! Don't you remember what the Queen said when we brought him in?"

"Of course I do!" the first snapped. "I don't understand what the Queen is thinking! What is he planning to do with that traitor-?"

"Doesn't matter. Just because we can't expose 'im doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun tormenting the sucker. Go right, I'll go left."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going…"

Alfred held his breath as the two walked away, their footsteps echoing and slowly disappearing. Then he slowly lowered himself to the floor, leaning his back against the door. He closed his eyes again- even though it didn't really make difference sight wise- and breathed through his nose. Would he ever be able to have a normal life here? He didn't belong in Spades, but then again according to the whole Wild Card thing Prussia had said, he didn't belong in Hearts either. No matter how hard he tried convincing himself otherwise, he really had no place where he could belong.

Sighing, he opened his eyes to blackness. He tried to feel around for a candle or a match to light up the room, but instead he saw a dim glow coming directly from his pockets. He quickly shoved his hand in the pockets and pulled out the Spades watch. He stared at it, frowning. It was shining light, but for some reason it didn't pull him into the past or the future like it normally did. Instead it was giving off a pleasant glow that illuminated the area around it. It was almost as if it was trying to help him or something.

Alfred was hesitant about using the watch. Ever since his conversation with Rica- whom he had visited several times since their first meeting- he had been avoiding taking it out or even looking at it. If the watch really was Washington, and if Arthur ever found out he had it, he would be thrown into the dungeons for all eternity. But he had never found a safe place to store it.

He held up the watch and let its light fall onto the rest of the room.

The room was much larger than he would have thought, sitting in the dark. It was the size of the bottom floor of one of the village houses, but without any of the walls. At one end was a sitting area with couches and cushiony chairs, which turned into a sun room lined with mirrors and curtains, and then flowed into a working area of bookcases filled with volumes of paper and a dark mahogany wood desk. It was a beautiful place, and Alfred was sure that it would be even more so in the sunlight. But why would such a nice room like this have a layer of dust over everything? It looked as if no one had been in here for a while, yet the entire room was scattered with papers and private instruments.

Alfred shakily stood up and walked around. He was careful not to step on anything; he felt as if he was intruding on something personal, like a person's bedroom. He stepped onto a raised platform in the sunroom area and pulled back the curtains. Immediately moonlight flooded the room, revealing a whole wall covered with windows that stretched all the way to the ceiling. He gaped at the scenery out of the windows, which overlooked a beautiful valley filled with flowers. He had never seen something so breathtaking yet so alone at the same time.

Suddenly, he felt the exhaustion of the past day catch up with him, and he stumbled over to the couch. He collapsed onto the cushion and rested his chin on pillow. Then he stared out at the valley, quietly thinking.

Whoever this place had belonged to, it was someone of high status. Anyone could tell that by looking around and seeing how expensive some of the fabrics were. But at the same time, nothing here had been touched in a long time. So that meant the person here had either died or had never bothered to come back. And maybe they never would.

Alfred looked back down at the watch- which was still glowing- and smiled. He had just found a place to hide the watch. He would have to remember where this room was exactly though, which might be a problem. Maybe he could ask Toris-

The watch started to glow brighter at that moment, and Alfred stared at it with alarm. He scrambled over to pick it up and saw that the hands on its face were spinning madly as if being powered by some unknown substance. The sapphire jewels were giving off an unnatural blue light, and the entire clock was pulsing like it was a heart instead of a piece of cold metal.

Alfred panicked. What was going on? Why was the watch acting like this? It had never done anything like this before; did it have something to do with the room, or the fact that he was in Spades now instead of Hearts? He hadn't had another vision since the Gathering- and in all honesty, he really didn't want another one either- but was this a vision? Or was it something else, something more powerful?

"Oh, Ace." Alfred whispered as the light intensified, illuminating the entire room with a harsh blue beam.

He clutched the watch to his chest, hoping that the light would be covered up, and shut his eyes.

There was a flash, and Alfred felt a gust of hot air rush through his hair and tug at his clothes. He grimaced and tightened his hold on the Eternal Implement in his hand, wishing that whatever was going on would just end.

Abruptly, the light disappeared and then there was nothing.

-o0o-

"Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration."  
Charles Dickens

-o0o-

Translations according to Google:

(Spanish) Si- yes

Por favor- please

-o0o-

Background Information:

*In every Kingdom, there are a number of villages and towns, some of the more prosperous ones even have castles. However, the largest and most grand of these are the Capital Towns, which surround the Kingdom's Royal Castle. The most business and productivity goes on in these Towns because of this and many citizens travel there to make money for their families.


	11. Spades Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Orriginally posted on FF.net on 3/23/2012.
> 
> I don't own anything.

The images were more like flashes of multicolored light; barely slowing down enough for Alfred to catch a glimpse of what it was before blurring into another scene. They were quick, fast, each so different from each other that he felt dizzy just trying to concentrate on what he was seeing.

He was standing on a lonely hill at night. A short man in white stood with his back to Alfred, staring at a small town illuminated by the moonlight. He had black hair that was cut sharply at his ears and dark eyes as cold as stone. Alfred gasped when he recognized the person and reached out a hand.

"Kiku-!"

The wind picked up, howling around Alfred and he had to cover his head with his hands. When he opened his eyes he was inside once again, surrounded by peach colored walls on four sides. The only other person there was a woman crouching down on her knees. She had fiery red hair pulled into a tight bun- even though several strands were escaping the band holding it back- and was watching a clock so large that it came up to her knees. She turned and looked directly at Alfred. He froze and his eyes went wide as her cold blue gaze bore into his.

"Elizabeth!" a voice called from behind a door. She turned at the sound of the man's voice, and the instant their gaze broke, the scene changed again.

Now he was in a stone fortress and coldness hung in the air like a plague. Tortured sobbing noises came from a man lying on the floor. He was clutching another person- a woman- who was not moving. She was unnaturally pale, and her peaceful expression was too calm to be considered normal. A blonde haired child no older than five watched the man with terrified green eyes and his small frame shook-

The stones blurred together before turning into the locked room he had run into earlier. Sunlight pored through the windows onto a man sitting on the desk. He had white hair pulled back into a pony tail, and wrinkled hands that covered his face. In front of him was paper with a long list of words written in English-

Alfred was in Alhliða again, in the middle of the courtyard where he had last seen Arthur before everything had gone downhill. Instead of the fountain, there was a large table cast into shadows by the nearby trees. Men surrounded the courtyard, all carrying weapons of some kind, and were watching the four men who surrounded the table. Two were wearing official clothes of blue and grey while the others were adorned with scarlet and red.

"No, I refuse to accept this!" one of the blue snapped, slamming a fist down on the table. He had messy blonde hair and bright green eyes- wait, that was Arthur!

Alfred quickly approached the four men, gaping when he recognized the other three in addition to the Queen of Spades. Yao was next to Arthur, his expression stony, and across from them were Kiku and Ludwig. Ludwig looked as if he was ready to slice Arthur's head off, while Kiku's face was as blank as a sheet of unmarked paper. Alfred looked back and forth between to the two opposing sides with a frown. What was going on? Why were they all meeting here?

"I cannot agree to this," Arthur continued to say. "If you want to avoid a war between Hearts and Spades, you will have to come up with something better than this." He waved his hand over the sheets of parchment in front of them.

"We cannot offer you any more than we already have." Ludwig responded. "This deal gives you considerable leverage over Hearts. If you refuse, I would suggest starting to prepare your army for battle because I will not give anything more to Spades than what you have already taken."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Are you seriously prepared to go up against the most intelligent Kingdom of all the Suits?"

"Are you prepared to go up against the most militaristic Kingdom of all the Suits?" Ludwig challenged.

Arthur glowered, but said nothing. Yao tensed next to his Queen as Kiku stared at Arthur, his gaze never wavering. Neither of them had said anything in the time Alfred had been standing there, but he had a pretty good guess at what Kiku was thinking; he had never seen his friend so furious in his entire life.

"Consider your options, Queen of Spades." Ludwig finally said, leaning away from the table. "Think about the number of innocent people that will die if our Kingdoms go to war, and then when you have considered all of your choices, send us a letter. We will give you a month to respond." With that, he collected the papers that belonged to him and regarded the two Spades coolly before walking away.

"Tell Alfred that I said hello," Kiku said to Arthur, speaking for the first time. His tone was calm but there was a dark glimmer in his eyes that sent chills up Alfred's spine. "And that I will never stop trying to get him back home. He will return to Hearts, one way or another." The last sentence evidently had a threat woven into it, and Alfred was surprised by how much Kiku cared about him. Kiku had never been the affectionate type, even when they had been kids.

"We will just have to see about that, won't we?" Arthur said softly in reply. He raised his head so that he was looking down at Kiku instead of eye level. Kiku slightly narrowed his eyes, but didn't reply. Instead he turned to Yao.

"Yao," he said stiffly. Yao's expression soured but he nodded once. Kiku turned on his heal and followed after his King. Alfred looked back and forth between the two; did they know each other? Arthur and Yao waited until all of the Hearts had left the courtyard- including their soldiers- before starting to leave. Scowling, Arthur turned and stalked away from the table. Yao stared after the Hearts with a frown on his face for a minute before catching up to his Queen.

"You are not going to consider their deal, are you?" he asked.

"No," Arthur said coldly. "They get whatever hardships come their way. If I hadn't taken action when I did…well, we would be looking at a massacre."

Alfred blinked in surprise, shocked at what Arthur had said. What did he mean? Hearts had never acted violent towards Spades or any of the other Kingdoms, so why would he say something like that?

The courtyard tilted sideways, and the image blended into itself until all he could see was black. He turned around, searching for something, anything. He held up a hand in front of his face and was surprised that he could still see his body, if nothing else. So he hadn't gone blind at least, which had been his initial fear.

Alfred looked up at the darkness that surrounded him with a frown, and yelled, "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

"Alfred Jones." Came the immediate reply.

He whirled around to see a woman twice his height standing behind him. She was pale, her lips a light shade of blue. Her long hair surrounded her like a cocoon, and it was the color of dark sapphires. She had large silver eyes, with pupils of thin black ovals. Her skin glowed, as if powered by magic. Surrounded by the darkness around them, she looked like a strange ghost of some magical creature. The being was watching him with intense interest; she never once blinked.

Alfred felt the hair on his arms stand up as a thrill of fear coursed through him. He had never met anything like this in his whole life. What was she? And what did she want from him?

Then she reached out towards him, her long arms as white as the moon. His eyes widened and he took a step back. She frowned and lunged forward. Alfred let out a surprised cry when her hands clasped both of his cheeks, cradling his face. He was too shocked to pull away, so he let her examine him while he stared into her pixie like face. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she smiled, revealing a row of pointy teeth.

"You're him," she breathed. "I knew you would come. I knew it."

And before he could do anything to stop her, she leaned forward and pressed her cold lips to his.

Instantly, Alfred felt pain in his head. With a gasp he fell to his knees before the woman, clutching his forehead with both of his hands. Images of dead bodies, blood, fires, and a once strong city in ruins flashed through his mind and he started to shake uncontrollably as the woman leaned down in front of him. He glared at her through teary eyes.

"What did you do to me?" he whispered. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

"Shh, relax soldier." She placed a finger to his mouth, stopping him from speaking. "I do not wish to harm you. All will be revealed in time, I promise you this." Her figure started to blur, and Alfred started to panic.

"Wait!" he cried. "Don't go!" Even if the girl freaked him out to no end, he hated the dark. He would rather her stay than leave him alone.

"We will meet again, Alfred Jones." Her voice echoed inside of his head.

The next thing he knew, he was staring at the ceiling of the locked room he had been in earlier before the visions. Sunlight poured through the windows and straight into his eyes. He winced and slowly sat up. It was morning; he could hear the birds in the meadow outside the window. Something cold weighed down his hand and he looked down to see the pocket watch in his palm.

Alfred scowled. Really, this thing was more trouble than it was worth sometimes.

-o0o-

"Are you alright, Alfred?" Toris asked later that day in Town.

Alfred stopped rubbing his eyes and looked up at his friend. "What? Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." He tried to smile but it turned out looking more like a grimace.

"Bad dream?" Toris sympathized. Alfred nodded.

"Several, actually." He said miserably. After he had woken up he had somehow managed to stumble around the Castle until he found Toris, but he felt like he hadn't slept at all last night. He was exhausted and was trying not to let it affect his mood, but failing terribly.

"What were the dreams about?" Rica chirped beside him. She had seen them passing the clothing store on the way to the food market and had decided to follow them around the marketplace.

"A bunch of weird things," Alfred said, trying to keep it general.

He picked up a fruit and examined it for bruises before placing it in a bag around his neck. They were getting food for the Kitchens so that the cooks would be prepared to make a large meal for the Triumvirates when they returned. It had been a while since Arthur and Yao had left- nearly a week- and everyone was excited to greet them back to the Castle. What they had been doing the entire time was a mystery, but no one seemed worried. Alfred thought back to his visions with a frown. He had seen Arthur and Yao meeting with the Triumvirate of Hearts, was that where they had gone? To Alhliða try and settle matters with Hearts before returning to Spades?

"Hey, Toris?"

"Mmm?" the servant looked back at Alfred from a pile of cloth.

"Have you ever heard of someone named Elizabeth?" Alfred asked. Maybe he could find out some of the answers to the questions he had floating in his brain instead of sulking for the rest of the day.

Toris frowned. "Are you talking about Elizaveta; the Queen of Clubs?"

"No." Alfred said. "It's Elizabeth- not veta." He and Rica trailed after Toris as the servant moved down the street.

"Well, there are quite a lot of Elizabeths in Spades; it is an English name." Toris said. "Can you be a bit more specific?"

"Um, well the Elizabeth I'm talking about has blue eyes and red hair. Lots of red hair, and it was really curly and hard to control. She was tall too- like my height." Alfred described, trying to remember as much as he could about the strange woman. He wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he almost thought that she could see him even though it was a vision. No one had ever done that before, and he wanted to know why she had been able to of all people.

"Are you talking about the Queen?" Rica suggested.

"What? No, Elizabeth is a girl's name-"

"Queen Elizabeth of England." Toris clarified. "She ruled a few generations before the present day Royals and had one of the longest and most prosperous reins in all of Spades history. She sounds a lot like the person you described. Why do you ask?"

"I saw a picture in the Castle," Alfred made up randomly. God, he had to get this lying thing under control; he felt guilty about lying to the people who had befriended him. "And she had this large clock thing next to her."

"That would make sense. The clock would be London- the Queen's Eternal Implement."

"So…the present day England has the clock too?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, the same one." the servant confirmed. "No one knows where he keeps it though."

Alfred clenched his hand into a fist at his side. Like he really needed something else to complicate his life. Did this mean that Arthur would be able to somehow see him if Alfred happened to have a vision of him? If so then why didn't he notice Alfred in the vision with the other Triumvirates? Was it because he didn't have the clock with him?

"The present day Queen is actually a descendent of Elizabeth," Toris continued on thoughtfully. "People expect a lot from him. It's a lot of pressure."

"Yeah, poor thing." Alfred said sarcastically and Toris gave him a chastise look.

"You don't like the Queen?" Rica asked, her brow furrowed.

Alfred shrugged.

"But you've never even met him! How can you just judge him like that?" Rica said, sounding more confused than defensive.

"I don't like his decisions as Queen." Alfred said flatly. That much was true at least. Arthur hadn't been hesitant at all to threaten Feli in order to capture Alfred.

Rica opened her mouth to question him more, but Toris cut in quickly much to Alfred's relief.

"Do you have anything else you want to know about? Because as much as I enjoy talking, we do need to hurry and go back to the Castle." He looked so distressed that the other two started to laugh.

"Only you would actually try while doing this kind of stuff, Toris." Alfred said with a grin. "But, yeah, I actually do I have another question."

"Alright, what is it?" Toris crossed his arms.

"In my dream I saw this other woman-" he started to say.

"Jeesh, Al, how many girls do you look at?" Rica joked with a smirk and Toris chuckled.

"Ha ha, very funny." Alfred rolled his eyes. "But seriously, guys, this girl was weird. She was tall, pale and had really long blue hair and silver eyes. She didn't look…human."

The smile fell off of Toris' face and he suddenly looked worried. "Can you repeat that one more time?"

"Uh, yeah. She was tall- like, unnaturally tall. At least double my height- and she had super long hair-"

"What color hair?" Toris interrupted.

"Dark blue; like sapphires. And sliver eyes with pupils like a cat's."

"And you saw her in your dream?" Toris asked. His expression was putting Alfred on edge, and even Rica's eyes had widened.

"Yeah, is there something wrong?" Alfred looked back and forth between the two, a bad feeling settling in his stomach.

Toris hesitated. "Well, the way you're describing her…"

"It sounds like you're talking about the Ace." Rica finished uncomfortably.

Alfred gaped at the pair, not believing what they were telling him. The Ace of Spades? How was that even possible? Aces were…well, that was the problem, wasn't it? No one knew exactly what they were- not human, that was for sure- but the best word to describe them was spirits. Spirits that represented each Kingdom respectively. They were mentioned in the old legends several times for their enjoyment to meddle in human affairs, but they had disappeared from the books a while ago and they had not been mentioned since. It was rumored that the Triumvirates could see them, and that their Eternal Implements had been made by each Kingdom's Ace, but that's all they were. Rumors. It had never been proved that it was true or not, and Kiku had never mentioned Heart's Ace, so Alfred never bothered asking. He figured that if it was something important, Kiku would've talked to him about it.

But now, now he was in Spades and their Ace had shown up in his dreams. What the heck was that supposed to mean? Was it because he was the Wild Card?

"Alfred, are you sure you weren't just imagining things?" Toris asked. "Maybe it wasn't the Ace you saw, maybe it was something else. You were sleeping, after all."

"It didn't feel like it was a dream though," Alfred said. "I mean, she kissed me. I think I would remember something like that."

"Wait- she did- what? She kissed you?" Rica shrieked. Toris shot her a warning glare to be quiet.

"Yes. Her lips were cold; it was so weird…" he muttered, frowning.

"You should go talk to the Triumvirate." Rica said. "Stuff like that doesn't happen every day; they need to know if someone saw the Ace! Maybe this is a sign, Alfred! Maybe this is supposed to tell you something."

Alfred was unimpressed. "Oh, yeah? Like what other than I'm being stalked by some thousand year old spirit with enough magical power to kill me in my sleep?"

"Think about it," Rica said, lowering her voice. "Triumvirates are the only people who get to see the Aces-"

"Those are rumors." Toris said.

"- but then suddenly a mysterious servant sees the Ace of a Kingdom that has gone on without a King for years?" Rica continued, ignoring Toris. "That's not normal. What if the Ace is trying to send you a message? What if she wants you to be the next King of Spades?"

"No." Alfred said flatly and Rica's face fell. "It's impossible." He turned away from her and started to walk in the direction of the Castle. Rica and Toris glanced at each other for a second before following the gold haired teenager.

"Why? Why is it impossible?" she asked when they had caught up, staring at him while Alfred glared straight ahead.

"It just is. I can't become King." He refused to look at her, annoyed. Spades wasn't his home, he didn't belong here. He couldn't become King of Spades any more than his old friend in Hearts, Roger, could.

"Can't you at least tell me why you think-?"

"Rica, Alfred is not of noble blood." Toris said in an effort to fend her off. He knew the truth about Alfred and why he couldn't become King. "And only those in the hierarchy have the money to train their children to even be considered as the King." They turned the last corner to see the hut with the fence that connected the Town to the Castle.

"But still-!" Rica made one last attempt to make an argument.

"You're being overdramatic." Toris said, faking a smile and placing a hand on her shoulder. "If the King has not been discovered by now, there is an unlikely chance that he or she will ever be found. Besides, Queen Arthur and Jack Yao have done an excellent job of running Spades. We do not need a King right now. Goodbye, Rica. We will visit again soon." With that he squeezed her shoulder once before disappearing into the brush.

"Bye, Rica." Alfred gave her a departing hug, leaving the girl shocked that she had been left so quickly and darted after Toris.

"That was close," Alfred said when they were out of ear shot.

"Too close," Toris agreed. "We need to steer away from subjects like that with her; she is far too intelligent and curious to keep at bay for long."

"I know," Alfred said with a grimace. "I'll try to be more careful from now on." They struggled up the steps that lead to the servant entrance into the Castle, carrying the supplies they had gathered from the Town.

"Did you mean what you said?" Toris asked, his breathing labored.

"About the whole Ace thing? Of course, I didn't lie if that's what you mean."

"What was it like, meeting the Ace?"

"To be honest, it was as scary as hell, dude. She looked like a freaking ghost or something, and do you know how scared I am of ghosts? It's not even funny, she was all pale and creepy and ugh." Alfred shuddered while Toris laughed.

"Are we going to tell England and China that I saw her, though?" Alfred asked.

"I'm not sure," Toris said. He looked worried and unsure of what to do. "The way you described her certainly sounds like the Ace from what I have read in the old legends, but then again it was a dream. What you imagined could have been anything, and I highly doubt that the Queen will appreciate us telling him that you saw the Ace without significant evidence."

"So, no telling then?"

"At least for now; the Triumvirate has not even returned from their trip, we should probably wait a bit before-"

"The Triumvirate of Spades is not here?" a high pitched voice called out in Hoppípollan.

Alfred and Toris turned to see two fair haired nobles standing to their left. Each had bright blue eyes and bangs, but the smaller one was a girl and the taller was a boy; probably siblings. The girl wore a simple tan dress while a dark bow rested in her blonde hair and she carried a cluster of light yellow flowers in her hands. The boy's clothes were much more vibrant; bright orange vest and pants with a cap to match. A cane of some kind was tightly gripped in one hand.

Alfred and Toris shared a confused glance. What the heck? Who were these people?

"Uh, no. They are not." Toris said. "May I help you two with something? You don't look like you quite belong here."

"Ah, I apologize." The girl said, blushing. "I am Lili and this is my older brother, Vash." She waved a hand at her brother who regarded the two with distrust. "We are the Queen and Jack of Diamonds."

Alfred almost dropped his bag in surprise and Toris' eyes bulged.

"Your Highness, forgive me for my rudeness." Toris apologized quickly and bowed his head slightly. Alfred hurried to follow his example although he didn't understand what the Triumvirate of Diamonds was doing in Spades.

"Oh, its fine, its fine, please don't apologize!" Lili said, getting more flustered. "I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation! It's just…" she looked back at her brother for a moment and he nodded.

"Vash and I got separated from our King, France, and we got lost." She admitted. "Would you two mind helping us find the way to the Throne Room? You are the first two servants we have stumbled upon and it would be wonderful if you could just show us how to get there-?"

"Of course," Toris said with another bow. "It would be no trouble at all. Please, follow me."

"Thank you so much!" she smiled at them and followed them into the Castle.

-o0o-

The Throne Room was one of the few important rooms in the Castle that Toris had not shown Alfred yet. So while leading Lili and Vash, Alfred tried as best he could to look like he knew where he was going and stayed close to Toris' side.

He wanted to talk to Toris and ask him if he knew why the Triumvirate of Diamonds was in Spades, but he was afraid that the two walking behind them would overhear. Instead he kept his mouth shut, sneaking glances at the Diamonds over his shoulder. Lili would always give him a small, but bright, smile. Vash on the other hand glared at him with a scowl. Obviously the over possessive brother type. Defiantly.

Toris stopped in front of a large wooden door that reached all the way up to the ceiling. Despite its size, the door was extremely light weight and opened easily. A thin royal blue carpet led to two large thrones covered in jewels and velvet. On either side were rows of chairs, probably for the other Royals in Spades. And in the middle of the room were two men- one was a servant who had just finished attending to yet another fair haired noble in yellow and orange.

It was the King of Diamonds, Francis Bonnefoy.

Alfred started at the realization, surprised but not entirely shocked. Arthur had been the Queen of Spades, so why couldn't Francis be the King of Diamonds? It made perfect sense now, the little snide comments that the two had shared during the Gathering among other things.

Lili rushed past him- a blur of soft gold- running straight towards her King. Francis turned at the last second and caught her in his arms, crushing her in a tight embrace. She laughed as he swung her around in a wide circle, lifting her easily because of her size and weight. Alfred was surprised; he didn't think that Francis' personality would go well with Lili's, but then again they had the United Bond. They would work well together no matter what simply because they were the King and Queen.

"Francis!" Lili said when he put her down. "Where were you? We were hopelessly lost!" she waved a hand towards Vash and he walked forward to join them, while Alfred and Toris waited awkwardly to the side in case the Royals needed anything else.

"Oh? Well, mon cher, perhaps you should have not gone off on your own then, hmm?" he smiled fondly at her and took out a woven circle of flowers from his pocket. He gently placed it upon her head, like a crown, and she reached up to touch them with the tips of her fingers. Her face broke out into another smile.

"Thank you, it's beautiful." She said.

Francis bowed low. "Only the best for my Queen." He said cheerfully and she giggled.

"However, there is a problem." He said as he straightened, this time addressing both the Queen and Jack.

"What is it?" Vash spoke for the first time, sounding as serious as he looked.

"Arthur and Yao are not here, I am afraid." Francis said with a disappointed sigh. "They are out on some mysterious trip and the date of their return is unknown."

"Oh, yes. We heard." Lili said. "Too bad, isn't it? We came all this way for nothing…"

"Quoi?" Francis frowned. "How did you learn this before I did?"

"Ah, the two servants who brought us here told us." Lily turned around until she spotted Toris and Alfred. "There they are. Thank you again for your help."

Francis raised his eyebrows when he spotted Alfred standing there; he obviously recognized him from the Gathering. He felt Toris stiffen next to him.

"Would you mind coming over here, s'il vous plait?" he held out his hand towards the teenager, beckoning him to come closer. Alfred walked up to Francis without hesitation, ignoring the brief warning tug on his sleeve from Toris. He was Alfred Jones of Hearts; he wanted to show the King of Diamonds that he wasn't some idiot who would hesitate or shy away just because he was Royalty.

Lili and Vash moved away so that Alfred could stand in front of the King. Francis studied him with an unreadable expression, his gaze lingering on Alfred's blue eyes and golden brown hair. Alfred responded by standing a bit straighter and lifting his chin. For a moment, he almost felt like he was back in military training, but he quickly rejected the memory.

If Francis saw the regret in Alfred's eyes, he didn't mention it. Instead the look on his face softened slightly.

"You are Alfred Jones, correct?" he asked, his voice thick with a French accent.

"Yes."

"Have we met before? You look very familiar."

Alfred shrugged. If he couldn't remember him from the Gathering, it would be all the better.

"Ah, yes. Now I remember!" Francis said, clapping his hands together. "You were at the Gathering, were you not? With Arthur, no? I did not think you were a Spade."

"Ha ha, yeah." Alfred smiled weakly. He wasn't sure how to respond exactly. Should he tell Francis why he was here? Or did Arthur want to be the one who told Francis that it was his fault why Spades and Hearts were at each other throats?

Francis tilted his head to the side, as if bothered by a strange question, and reached out to touch Alfred's face.

The sound of a slamming door shocked all of them, but more surprising was the loud BANG and silver bullet that followed, barely missing Francis' outstretched hand.

"What. Are you doing here, Frog?" a cold voice said from the door.

Alfred turned around to see Arthur standing in the doorway to the Throne Room, still in traveling clothes, and holding a smoking gun. His green eyes were narrowed and his blonde hair was windswept- probably from riding. Yao emerged over the Queen's shoulder a second later, looking wary.

"Arthur!" Francis purred, drawing his hand away from Alfred. "Just the man I wanted to see."

Arthur strode forward, his boots making muffled clicking noises as he stalked down the blue carpet. Alfred felt a thrill of fear as the Royal neared. What was Arthur going to do to him? He had done everything Arthur had asked. He had kept out of trouble. Why did he look so angry-?

In one fluid motion, Arthur swept past Alfred and pushed the teenager behind him, protectively standing between Francis and Alfred. Alfred stumbled only a little, still surprised enough to let the Queen move him away from the King of Diamonds without putting up much resistance.

"Do. Not. Touch. Him." Arthur growled. Alfred could only see Arthur's back, be he could imagine the dangerous glare Francis was receiving. It made him wonder if Arthur had purposefully shot the gun so that the bullet would scare Francis away from Alfred. Either that, or it was an extremely lucky shot.

"And why is that? Is it because he is part of the reason why Spades and Hearts are close to declaring war?" Francis questioned. For the first time anger was evident in his tone and rage flashed in his eyes. "I have heard the rumors spreading through the land."

"The boy is valuable," Arthur admitted and Alfred scowled. Why was he being treated like some fragile human flower or something? He was warrior, not a glass artifact!

"You know I am not ready for a war, Arthur." Francis seethed. "Especially one of this magnitude. What did you do this time? Did you steal something again?"

"It is none of your concern!" Arthur snapped. Yao, who was standing next to him, responded to his anger by reaching for a long sword dangling on his belt. Lili and Vash also were gripping the objects in their hands tighter as well. This was going downhill, and fast.

"We have an alliance; everything you do is of my concern! I can only do so much for you and Spades but you must give something back-"

"Ah, Your Royal Highnesses!" Toris interrupted from behind them, effectively breaking the tense atmosphere. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him.

"Perhaps you would like to continue your conversation in private?" he suggested. Alfred admired his bravery and grinned at his friend.

The Royals had calmed down a bit, and they all backed away from each other. The peaceful air returned, much to everyone's relief. Arthur turned his head slightly and he locked gazes with Alfred for a moment before Francis began to speak again.

"I agree with your servant, Arthur. Is there someplace we may talk without interference?" he drew an arm around Lili as he spoke, bringing the girl close to his side. She leaned on him happily. Arthur watched the two with a slight frown, but didn't comment.

"Yes. Please, this way." Arthur made a sweeping motion with his arms, gesturing for the Triumvirate to head out a door to the left of the thrones.

"Leave this room immediately," he said in a hushed whisper to Toris. "Make sure the two of you stay busy for a while; I don't want you to ever be alone with a person like Francis ever again, understand?" Arthur demanded, glaring at Alfred suddenly. "He could make you agree to something I don't want you to or he could trick you into revealing some information about Spades. Do not talk to him alone, even if Toris is with you."

"I can talk to whoever I want!" Alfred hissed. "You don't own me-!"

Arthur grabbed a fistful of Alfred's front shirt and dragged him down so that they were eye level. All defiance inside of him disappeared in place of fear and all Alfred could focus on was Arthur's deadly serious green eyes.

"As a matter of fact," the Queen breathed. "You'll find that I do own you. You are my prisoner, therefore I decide on what you can and cannot do. Do not disobey me, Alfred. You will regret it." With that, he released the teenager- pushing Alfred away from him roughly- and strode after the Diamonds without looking back.

Alfred inwardly cursed at Arthur's retreating figure. How could he be such an ass all of the time? Didn't people get sick of him? Where was this caring considering Arthur that Toris had mentioned before?

"Ah, actually, I must do something before we go." Francis said, pausing at the doorway.

"What is it, Frog?" Arthur spat, obviously not in a good mood. But then again, when was he ever in a good mood?

"Alfred. Please come here, there is someone I want to introduce you to." Francis held out his hand to Alfred, surprising them all. Alfred shot a frightened look at Toris who stared back with wide eyes, but offered no advice. Disobeying a direct order from a King, even if it wasn't your own, could get a person into serious trouble. So, he did as was asked and slowly walked forward. Arthur automatically tensed again, and grabbed onto Alfred's sleeve when he reached them.

"Not so fast. What is this all about, Francis?"

"Nothing, I just thought the boy might like to meet his brother." Francis said innocently. Alfred's jaw flew open and he gaped at the King of Diamonds. Francis smiled sweetly and called out, "Canada, would you mind coming out?"

The door in front of them creaked open slowly, and a pale hand appeared. Arthur's grip tightened, but Alfred refused to tear his gaze away from the door. His heart was beating unnaturally fast, and questions were running through his mind at the speed of light. Brother? What did Francis mean? Alfred had been abandoned in the street with no relatives or names to go by. But, what if…what if he had been alone because his brother had grown up in a different Kingdom? That would make sense why they had never been able to contact each other until now. But, still. Even that was unlikely. What if Francis was lying? What if Alfred really had no brother?

All of these questions ran through his mind in those few quick seconds before 'Canada' entered the room. But as soon as Alfred saw him, all of his questions flew right out of his head, and his mind went blank.

Standing in front of Alfred was an exact copy of himself. Well, almost an exact copy; this doppelganger had wavy creamy hair and indigo eyes in comparison to his own choppy gold bangs and sapphire blue orbs. There were two thin sheets of glass attached together by a thin wire resting on the bridge of his nose, and he was wearing the colors of the Diamonds. They could pass as the same person, with few alterations.

"Alfred Jones," Francis said, clearing his throat. "Meet Matthew Williams; your twin brother."

-o0o-

"I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking."  
Franklin D. Roosevelt

-o0o-

Translations according to Google:

(French) Mon cher- my dear

Quoi- what

s'il vous plait- please


	12. Spades Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on FF.net on 4/13/2012.
> 
> I don't own anything.

Spades Castle

The so called 'Matthew Williams' lasted about three seconds after Francis made the announcement before passing out.

His dark blue eyes rolled back before closing, and he fell forward with no warning. Alfred automatically lurched towards him and caught Matthew in his arms before he hit the floor face first. Together they slid down onto the cold floor, Alfred clutching the person in his arms that was supposedly his twin. He didn't have time to panic before Francis was beside them. He gently pushed Matthew's head back and placed a hand in front of his mouth to make sure he was still breathing.

"Is he alright?" Lili asked. Alfred looked up to find the Queen leaning over them, her hands clutching at the bouquet again. Her expression was genuinely worried, which surprised him. Matthew must be close to the Triumvirate if both the King and Queen reacted in such a way.

After a tense second, Francis nodded. Alfred, Lili, and even Toris breathed a sigh of relief. Vash, Arthur and Yao on the other hand remained impassive as ever.

"It is alright," Francis said and stood up. "He just fainted."

With another scowl, Arthur said, "He sees his twin for the first time after how many years and the first thing he does is faint?"

Francis glared at Arthur. "Don't be so quick to judge, mon ami. How would you feel if you suddenly discovered you had one last family member to cherish?"

Alfred felt his stomach flip. 'One last family member'? Did that mean that his mother and father were dead? A wave of emotion threatened to overtake him, and he quickly looked back down at Matthew to hide his expression. There was no point in showing weakness to these people. It would only be used against him here.

"In case you forgot, none of my family members would care enough if to cherish me." Arthur was saying harshly. "My family is a broken locket; cold and useless. But I suppose these two would be different, wouldn't they?" He stared down at Alfred with a frown. Alfred didn't meet his gaze, instead holding Matthew closer to him than before.

"Toris," Arthur said, turning to the servant. "Please help Alfred bring Matthew to the Medical Ward and make sure that he's alright. Then return to your normal duties, but please leave Alfred with his brother. I can trust Matthew to stay with Alfred, correct?" he asked Francis.

"Of course." Francis replied coolly. "Matthew can always be trusted, no matter the situation."

"Your love for him blinds your judgment." Arthur said with the same level of coldness. "But, please. Let us continue."

He gestured towards the now adjacent door, and after one last glance at Matthew, Francis exited the room. Lili floated after him and Vash after her. Yao- who had not uttered a single word yet- stalked away from the twins and Toris, and then finally Arthur. The door clanged loudly behind them. Only after they had all left did Alfred attempt to stand up. He struggled until Toris moved forward to pull Matthew up. They were able to balance the unconscious Diamond between the two of them, an arm around each shoulder. Together they stumbled out of the Throne Room through the entrance doors.

"This guy is your twin?" Toris asked, breathing heavy.

"I guess," Alfred huffed. "I've never heard of him before, but we look similar enough."

"Really? Well, I don't think you two look that much similar. Or act anything alike for that matter."

Alfred snorted. "We're twins, Toris; of course we look alike. Don't try to pretend otherwise. And we're gonna act different too because we were raised in two separate Kingdoms. We're not going to be the same person no matter what we look like." Alfred said, somewhat annoyed. If Matthew and him were going to get mixed up now because of their looks, his life was going to get more frustrating than it already was, if that was possible.

"No, that's not what I meant," Toris said with a breathless laugh. "What I mean is that he fainted while you caught him; you're strong, both physically and emotionally where he- as far as I have seen- is not. Even in looks he's like the washed out version of you."

Alfred frowned but considered what Toris had said. He didn't know Matthew well enough to confirm the other's words, but from what he had seen, he would agree with Toris.

They were turning down a hallway when Alfred recognized where they were. He glanced at the familiar pictures on the wall and then stared down the hallway to see the plain door he had run into the other night. Alfred grinned to himself as an idea popped into his head.

"Toris," he said. "Why don't you go get the people from the Medical Ward or whatever it is that England mentioned and bring some of them back here? I'll wait right here with Matthew until then."

"What?" Toris asked, confusion crossing his face. "But why-?"

"I honestly don't think we can continue to carry him like this, do you?" Alfred asked. "I mean, we're barely holding him up as it is." They both looked down at Matthew whose head lolled back and forth. The thin sheets of glass in front of his eyes were slipping down his nose and his clothes were looking more disheveled by the second.

"Alright, ok." Toris grumbled and together they struggled to place Matthew upright on a bench pressed against the wall. He fell sideways and Alfred quickly caught him again before he fell.

"Just- stay here. Don't go anywhere until I come back." Toris said. "If I come back here and you two are gone, both the Queen of Spades and the King of Diamonds will have my head."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "We'll stay in the hallway, Toris, don't worry. I can't carry him anywhere alone, remember?"

Toris pursed his lips, not looking totally won over. Eventually he nodded and walked briskly away from the pair, only glancing back once. Alfred smiled pleasantly at him when that happened and waved teasingly. Even at this distance, he could see Toris' affronted expression and laughed as the servant stalked away.

Finally alone with Matthew, Alfred quickly ran over to the door to make sure that it was still unlocked from the day before. He peered into the room and was relieved to see that no one else had disturbed it. Then he jogged back to Matthew and dragged him along the hallway and into the study.

Alfred propped Matthew on the couch before going back to shut the door. He ran around the three sections of the place- the sitting area with the couches and chairs, the study with the desk, and the window entrance area- and opened all of the windows he could. He breathed in a sigh of relief, enjoying the sound from the birds and the fresh air that drifted into the musty room. He glanced back at Matthew and was glad to find he was still passed out.

Alfred was proud of himself for having thought to bring Matthew here. He needed some privacy with his supposed brother and this was the perfect place to do it. No one would enter because no one knew that the door was unlocked, and the place really was peaceful with the whole flower valley scenery thing going on. The full length windows even opened so that you could go outside if you really wanted to. Yes, this was the perfect place to talk to Matthew, even if he was guilty for abandoning Toris. But they would return to the Castle life soon enough.

He quickly got bored however when he realized that Matthew wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. Had seeing Alfred really scared him that much? Alfred took the time to explore the study- which he hadn't thought of doing before- first making sure that the pocket watch was still there hidden underneath a pile of books before wandering through the rest of the rooms. He was surprised to discover a pile of notebooks stacked in a corner near the bookcase. On the inside of the notebooks were letters, times of meetings, dates, lists all written in the same neat handwriting. Alfred turned to the cover of the book closest to him and found the initials 'SK' imprinted onto the thick leather.

Intrigued, he took a handful of the notebooks and went outside to the meadow. No way was he going to stay in a stuffy place like that until Matthew woke up. He sat down on the grass underneath a large tree and opened to the first page. And there he stayed for nearly an hour, waiting. Again. Well, at least this time he had something interesting to do.

-o0o-

Matthew Williams hated waking up after passing out. He had done it enough times to be used to it, but it was still a strange feeling when he came to his senses in an unfamiliar room with no ability to know how much time had passed between then and now.

This time was even worse because he wasn't in Diamonds anymore. He was in Spades, a place that he had visited many times but still did not know well enough to walk around on his own. Even now, as he stared at the light colored ceiling he felt dread start to settle in. He sat up and was surprised to find himself in some sort of private study, kind of similar to Francis' but not quite as flashy. Or as orange, for that matter.

He looked around the room anxiously. Where was he? How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was Francis introducing him to…to…. Matthew paled and the world spun slightly as he replayed his last few conscious seconds in his mind.

He had met his brother. His twin brother at that. And his name was Alfred, Alfred Jones. He had the same face as Matthew's, though tanner and more angular. He had the same eyes, too, Matthew remembered. But they were lighter and resembled the sky rather than the dark depths of Matthew's own indigo. And he was wearing Spades clothes. But that part hadn't made any sense to Matthew, if he remembered correctly.

Speaking of which, where was this brother of his? Matthew stood up, leaning against the couch for support, and looked around. He was alone. Completely and utterly alone. What was going on? Where were Francis and Lili? What had happened to Alfred? And why was the Queen of Spades so interested in protecting him?

He forced himself to stop thinking too far ahead and tried to focus on the birds' chirping instead. Matthew's head snapped up and he stared at the adjacent window a few feet away. The glass was flung open wide, and it was because of that he could hear the birds' song. Matthew walked shakily over to the window and searched the wide valley for a sign of the person who had brought him to the room. Within a few seconds he was able to spot the dark gold hair of his twin brother some distance off underneath an old. Matthew smiled and walked forward to join him.

When he finally reached Alfred, he was confused to see the enormous pile of books next to him. His brother was intently reading one of them in his lap as he leaned against the thick tree trunk for support. He didn't even notice Matthew's presence, even after he cleared his throat rather loudly.

"Alfred?" Matthew said quietly, not wanting to scare him. He reached out to gently touch Alfred's shoulder.

The other recoiled at the unexpected touch, gasping with surprise and slamming the book shut. Alfred's wide blue eyes stared at Matthew for a moment with fear before he recognized who he was.

"Oh thank Ace, it's just you." Alfred sighed with relief. He visibly relaxed and made to stand up.

Matthew took a step back saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…"

"Nah, its okay." Alfred said with a wave of his hand. "I should've known it was you; who else would be here?"

Matthew frowned. "What do you mean? What happened to Francis and Lili? And where exactly is here?" For the first time he looked around the open meadow and wondered why he had never seen this place before. He had visited Spades on numerous occasions with the Triumvirate, and even if he couldn't find his way around alone, there were certain places he remembered. He felt like he would've remembered this place if he had ever been here.

"Ah, the Diamonds went with England and China to go talk over some political stuff- I think." Alfred said, scratching the back of his head. "Toris and me were supposed to bring you to the Medical Ward so they could make sure you were okay since you did faint and all. Do you do that a lot, by the way?" Alfred asked, surprising Matthew by abruptly changing the topic. "Because there's no way I'm going to be mistaken by you all of the time when you pass out and faint-"

"I don't faint a lot, alright!" Matthew glared at Alfred with annoyance. "It only happens when something shocking happens and I think seeing your twin brother would qualify as 'something shocking'!"

There was silence, and Matthew was satisfied at the guilty look on Alfred's face.

"Sorry," Alfred sighed. "That was kinda rude. Let's start over." He held his hand out to Matthew, determination flashing in his eyes. "I'm Alfred Jones. It's nice to meet you…?"

Matthew felt his own expression soften at his brother's words. He reached forward and grasped Alfred's hand.

"Matthew Williams," he said with a small smile and squeezed Alfred's hand. "My name is Matthew Williams."

Alfred's face screwed up. "Matthew? That's such a stuffy name."

"What?" Matthew asked, offended. "What do you mean?" He actually liked his name, and thought it fit him quite well.

"Well, it's just so…long." Alfred said. "And proper. Do you have a nickname or something I can call you instead?"

"No." He didn't want a nickname. Everyone called him Matthew and that's how he liked it.

"Then I'll just make one up for you. How about Matt?"

"No! That sounds silly."

"What? Why?" Alfred looked confused. "I think it sounds fine."

"Well I don't." Matthew said. "Why do I need a nickname? I like my name just the way it is-"

"Fine, fine I'll just call you Mattie then." Alfred said with a disappointed sigh. "So, Mattie. What'cha been up to all these years? Do we still have parents or what? And why are you a Diamond?" Matthew frowned, but decided to let the nickname thing slide. It really wasn't important compared to everything else they were going to have to sort out about each other.

"I could ask you the same." Matthew said, folding his arms. "Why are you in Spades? Shouldn't you be in Hearts? And why is the Queen of Spades so focused on protecting you? Do you have something to do with the tension between Spades and Hearts?"

Alfred scowled, obviously unwilling to answer the questions. "I guess we both have stuff to discuss."

"So it would seem," Matthew replied, frowning. Another awkward moment of silence passed- neither wanting to be the first to talk- before Alfred spoke again.

"Ok, so obviously neither of us are really open to each other since we don't really know each other and all," Alfred said. "But since we are brothers, I want this thing- whatever it is we have or will have- to work. I want to get to know you and I think I'm right in saying you want to get to know about me too. But in order for this to work, we need to be able to talk freely without worrying about the other freaking out and stuff, right?"

Matthew was surprised by Alfred's logical thinking, but found himself nodding to what his brother said. He wanted to be able to talk to Alfred and trust him; they were the only family each other had and he wanted Alfred to be the kind of person he could go to and confide in without being judged.

"Good, so how about we make a deal. We will both have the ability to ask the other any question we want, but the person answering has to respond honestly and truthfully. That way, we can both learn more about each other and we can slowly build up trust between us."

"That sounds great, actually." Matthew admitted. "But how will we know if the other is telling the truth or not? And how will I know that you won't go off and tell everyone you know what I've said?"

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Do you seriously have secrets that bad? 'Cause if you're doing something illegal you should probably go turn yourself in or something-"

"No, no, no! It's nothing like that!" Matthew insisted, blushing furiously. "I just want to make sure you're not the kind of person who would do something like that after I trusted you."

"Well," Alfred said slowly. "I'm not that kind of person, but if you want reassurance we can swear on it."

"Swear on it?" he repeated warily.

"Yeah. Like, I, Alfred Jones, swear to not lie to you, Matthew Williams on any account." His brother said, holding up his left hand and placing the other on his heart. "I promise to answer you truthfully to any question you have and I will try my upmost to be there for you if you ever need my help. I will not talk to anyone about any information you have trusted me with unless I have your permission first. I swear to be honest with you, as long as you will do the same with me." His blue gaze bore into Matthew's, never wavering the entire time. Matthew felt something melt inside of him at Alfred's words and he found that he was truly ready to trust the teenager across from him even though they had only just met.

"I swear, too." Matthew said clearly. "I want this to work out just as much as you do, so I promise to hold true to the words you said. You have a deal, Alfred." He held out his hand again, and the pair shook, both sides grinning like fools.

"So, I think you have more questions than I do," Matthew said as they both sat down on the grass. "Do you want to go first?"

"Yeah, that'd be great." Alfred said, pushing the notebooks he had been looking at before behind his back. "So. First things first; who are our parents? I want to know everything; don't you dare leave out a single detail. I assume you knew them, 'cause they never bothered to show up and introduce themselves to me."

Matthew heard the bitterness in his brother's voice and cringed inwardly. He didn't think his parents-well, technically it was their parents now- had left Alfred alone in Hearts on purpose but he supposed that's what it would look like to anyone else who hadn't heard the story yet. He sighed heavily to himself.

"Well?" Alfred said. "You did know them, right?"

"Yes, I suppose, but I don't really know how to start." Matthew admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"How about their names?" Alfred suggested.

Matthew blinked, surprised. "Oh. Yes, that's right. Our mother's name was Victoria. Our father was Louis."

"Victoria and Louis? Aren't those names-?"

"English and French?" Matthew finished. "Yeah, they are. Or, were I guess. Mother was a Spade and Father was a Diamond."

Alfred's brow furrowed. "Really? But isn't it illegal to marry people from other Suits?"

Matthew turned slightly red but didn't respond, knowing Alfred would figure it out. Alfred stared at him for a while before it clicked.

"Oh," he said, his mouth falling open. "They weren't married."

Matthew flushed. "No, they weren't; they just worked together. They were given the same assignment and…well, I guess one thing led to another and…"

"And here we are." Alfred said somewhat numbly. Matthew grimaced at the look on his face.

"It's not that bad, really." Matthew said, trying to sound reassuring. "They were going to get married after we were born. But…"

His hesitation to continue seemed to bring Alfred out of his shock and he focused his gaze back onto Matthew. "But, what? Something happened, right? Or else you wouldn't be talking like that. What was it? What happened?"

Matthew looked away, not willing to see the expression on Alfred's face when he heard the truth. "Mother died shortly after we were born. They didn't know that she was having twins and there were some problems with the birth, and her body couldn't handle it. She died while holding us in her arms for the first time."

The silence was almost more than he could handle, and he had to turn to look back at Alfred as the moment dragged on. Alfred had gone white as a sheet and his eyes were wide and unblinking. He looked so shocked and distraught that Matthew needed to shake his arms roughly in order to force him out of his surprise.

"Alfred? Are you alright?" Matthew asked as Alfred's gaze refocused once more.

"Yes. I- I think so." He said, his voice shaking. "It's just…" he took a shuddering breath and then went into a monologue in an attempt to explain himself to Matthew. "When I was younger, I always thought about meeting my parents. That was like, my dream, you know? It was the one thing I really wanted. Everything else, I could deal with as long as I had that hope. Growing up in my town, it wasn't always fun or easy, but that was one of the few things I held on to so I could keep going. I always dreamt of meeting them, of having a family. But it was a mother what I really wanted to have, especially when I saw all of the other kids with their moms. I wanted to be loved and cared for like that instead of living on the streets where the only place I really had an obligation to go to was Military Training."

"You lived on the streets?" Matthew cut in. "You didn't have a family or someone who looked after you?" He felt guilt rush through him when he thought about how he had immediately been taken into the Bonnefoy household when all the meanwhile, his brother had been alone.

"No." Alfred said flatly. "Where I lived, you were expected hang in tight and deal with what life handed you. It was seen as building character or something stupid like that. I had friends, but that's all they were. But then…" his voice trailed off and he looked out at the field like he lost a train of thought.

"But then?" Matthew questioned.

"But then I met Kiku." Alfred said simply, and all of the tension drained from his face.

"Who's that?" Matthew asked, honestly curious. Whoever this Kiku person was, he had obviously been good to Alfred. He could tell just by the way Alfred's demeanor changed talked about him.

"Kiku is my best friend. My life got loads better after I met him." He smiled. "Everything was great after that. There was someone to look after me and I had someone to look after too. I didn't really think about my parents or how my life could've been as much. But it's still hard to hear that my mother's dead, even after all of these years." His face scrunched up again.

Matthew was quiet again, unsure of how to respond. He had known all his life about the fact that his mother was dead. He had accepted it a long time ago. He couldn't imagine how it must be for Alfred who had believed that his parents would one day come for him but then finding out that his mother was gone for good.

"What happened to our father?" Alfred finally asked.

This time Matthew watched Alfred as he carefully said, "He died too."

Alfred's reaction wasn't as strong as the last time, but Matthew saw his hand tighten into a fist briefly before relaxing.

"How? And when?"

"It was a long time ago, back when I was three. He died from an illness that was going around Diamonds at the time." He hesitated before saying, "I don't remember him at all, if it helps. Francis said that he mostly stayed in bed up until the time he died. He barely spoke after Mother died."

Alfred let out a short laugh. "Not really the heroic kind of death one would hope from their parents, huh?"

Matthew shrugged. "They were our parents. Our mother died giving birth to us and our father died trying to stay with us. Their deaths don't have to be heroic to mean something."

Alfred stared at him with blank surprise. Then his brow furrowed and he frowned, like he was trying to wrap his mind around what Matthew had just said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He said. "But I'm still confused."

"About what?"

"If Mom was a Spade, and Dad a Diamond, why was I in Hearts? I mean, it makes sense that you grew up in Diamonds, but for me-"

"You never did ask me what Mother and Father did for their jobs, did you?" Matthew interrupted, which only succeeded in making Alfred look more confused than ever. "Mother and Father were spies. Even though they were from separate Kingdoms each of their Triumvirates sent them to Hearts to work together on a weird mission or something like that. I'm not sure what they were supposed to do, but from the moment they met until we were born they lived in Hearts. When we were born, they saw my Tattoo and knew that their cover would be blown the second the Numbers knew I was supposed to be in Diamonds. You know how it is with the whole Tattoo thing," he continued to say, glancing at Alfred. "Once they know that you don't belong in that Kingdom they kick you out."

Alfred smiled weakly at that statement, looking slightly sick. "Yeah, I know. It's kinda harsh to kick the people whose Tattoos change out of their homes, don't you think?"

"If they didn't, there would be no reason for Kingdoms at all." Matthew said. He stared at Alfred for a bit longer and said, "Are you sure you're ok? You're all pale again."

"I'm fine." He said faintly. Matthew wasn't convinced but then Alfred was speaking again and he tried to focus on what his brother was saying.

"So, that explains why I'm in Hearts. That means after Mom died, Dad took you and left." Alfred pondered. "But why did he leave me behind?"

Matthew hadn't considered that. He sat back and frowned to himself. It was a valid question. One he couldn't ask now. "Honestly, I have no clue. I didn't even know that I had a brother until Francis mentioned you."

"He mentioned me?"

"Yes. I didn't go to the Gathering but Francis had said something about the Queen of Spades saving a boy that looked a lot like me. I didn't think a lot about it at the time but now thinking back, he must have been talking about you. If you are a Heart- which you have to be in order to stay in the Kingdom long enough without being banished- why did the Queen of Spades save you? What happened?"

Alfred flushed and mumbled, "It was nothing, really. I was being stupid and I walked out into the middle of the street without paying attention to where I was going. England just pushed me out of the way. He saved my life." He then became very interested in the grass and twirled the blades between his fingers.

"You don't seem very happy about that." Matthew commented. "Are you mad at England?" Alfred started and turned to stare at him. Matthew himself was surprised at the bold accusation. He had only met the other a few hours ago, yet he could read Alfred as easily as he could read his own emotions.

"Well, I mean, I'm glad he saved my life." Alfred said after a pause. "But there were some things after the Gathering that he did that I'm most defiantly not happy with." He picked up a rock and angrily threw it across the clearing. It landed in the middle of the field and disappeared into the flowers.

"Is that why you're here and not in Hearts?" Matthew asked. "Because of what the Queen did?"

"Yeah," came the bitter reply.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Matthew saw Alfred's face grimace and quickly backtracked.

"I mean, you don't have to." Matthew said. "It's just there's been so many times that I've wanted to talk to someone but couldn't. I just want you to know that I'm here if you want to talk about it. And I won't push you if you don't want to talk about it, either. Whichever way, I-" he hesitated for a moment before placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "-I'm here for you. I just want you to know that."

Alfred smiled, revealing a row of white teeth and shinning blue eyes. "I know, Mattie." He said brightly. "But right now, I'd rather not tell you why I'm in Spades. I'm sure Francis-"

"France," Matthew corrected.

"-well, yeah, France, Francis same thing." He shrugged before continuing. "I'm sure France will tell you anyways. He was pretty determined to figure that out from England too. Plus I don't fully get it myself."

Matthew gaped at his twin, while Alfred stretched. What did he mean, he 'didn't fully get it himself'? How did Alfred not know how he had been taken away from Hearts- where he belonged- to Spades? Matthew shook his head. At least he'd get the full story from Francis later. He watched Alfred as the other attempted to stand up. When he stumbled, almost falling to the ground again, Matthew automatically reached out a hand to steady him from below.

"Whoa, thanks." Alfred grinned down at Matthew. He held out his hand. "Here, let me help you now."

Matthew, although exasperated, accepted his hand. Alfred pulled him up with a small grunt. Then he leaned back down to collect the books he had been reading before Matthew had arrived.

"What are those anyway?" Matthew asked as they shuffled back across the field towards the Castle. "And where are we? You never answered my original question."

"These," Alfred said, shifting the books in his arms. "Are notebooks from the study we were in before we came out here. And as far as I can tell, the study is some private office thing that was abandoned a long time ago. I discovered it yesterday and I figured it would be a good place to talk to you in private."

"Wait, wait, wait a second." Matthew said as Alfred entered the study, one step ahead of himself. "In the beginning you said that you were supposed to bring me to some kind of Ward so they could make sure I was physically fine. Was I ever brought to the Ward or did you just bring me here instead?"

Alfred placed down the books on the table to Matthew's left and turned around. "What do you think?" he asked with a sly smile.

Matthew stared at him before saying, "I was never brought to the Ward, was I?"

Alfred's smile turned into a full blown grin and Matthew groaned, burying his face in his hands. This was going to be a long week.

-o0o-

Matthew came to regret his promise to Alfred in the next few days that passed. His brother, he discovered, had a talent for popping in at odd moments to ask the most random questions.

"What are those things you have on your face?" Alfred asked him after running into his room that first night.

"What are you talking about?" Matthew asked grumpily. He was tired after a long day of traveling to Spades, learning he had a twin brother, being declared 'missing' along with Alfred by the servant Toris, and having dinner with the Triumvirate of Spades before finally going to his room to sleep to only find his twin brother bouncing on his bed with more questions and looking very much awake.

"You know, those things," Alfred jumped off the bed and poked Matthew's glasses on his nose. "What are they?"

Matthew blinked in surprise. "You don't know what these are?"

Alfred shook his head, and Matthew was struck by how naive his brother was at that moment.

"Oh. Well here, have a closer look." Matthew took off his glasses and handed them over. Through his blurry vision, he could make out Alfred studying the thin sheets of glass from all angles, running his fingers over the thin strip of metal that connected them.

"They're called glasses." Matthew explained.

"What do they do?"

"They make your vision clearer and help you to see better."

"Like a magnifying glass?"

"Kind of. Here, try them on." Matthew carefully removed the glasses from Alfred's grip and placed them on his nose. Alfred blinked several times, obviously trying to get used to them, and then his eyes widened.

"Whoa," he breathed. "Everything is so much brighter. And sharper." He turned in a circle, staring at the guest bedroom as if he had never seen the place before. Matthew laughed.

"They do help out a lot." He said with a grin.

"Where did you find this?" Alfred demanded. "Can I buy them or do I have to find someone to make it for me?"

"They're sold on the market. I guess they haven't made their way over to Hearts yet, huh?"

Alfred shook his head and continued to gape openly at the room. Matthew smiled softly and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from turning. Who knew if he would fall over again?

"You can keep those if you want," he told Alfred. "I have an extra pair."

His brother's eyes widened further, if that was even possible. "Really?"

"Yes. Since we're twins the type of glasses I need should be the same as the ones you need. And there's no point in making you go buy another pair since you're not a Number and don't have that much money on your own."

"True." Alfred said sheepishly. "Thanks though. I'll be able to do so much more stuff now with these!" he pointed to the glasses with a cheeky grin and winked, causing Matthew to laugh again.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Just go do whatever you need to do and let me sleep for a while before you come up with another question." He started to push Alfred out of the room.

"Sure thing, brother! See you tomorrow!" Alfred chirped and practically skipped down the corridor. Matthew shook his head and went back inside his room to get some much needed sleep.

The next day really wasn't any easier.

"Mattie! How did you meet Francis?" Alfred came up from behind Matthew on his way to meeting the King. Several people passing by jumped at Alfred's scream and glared at the pair, but Matthew ignored them. That was another thing about Alfred; he was loud and random but it was something he was going to have to get used to.

"Um, well after Father came back to Diamonds, Francis' family took us both in and took care of my father and me until he died. After he had been laid to rest, they adopted me into their family and Francis became my older brother."

Alfred was quiet, absorbing the information. Then, "So, is my real last name Williams or Jones? 'Cause you introduced yourself to me as Matthew Williams but my last name is Jones."

Matthew frowned. "How did you get the name Jones? Or even Alfred for that matter?"

The other shrugged. "I don't know. That's just what everyone called me. I guess the nurses in the place where Mom gave birth named me or something. What about you? How'd you get Williams?"

"That was Father's last name. Francis told me."

"So…my real name is Alfred Williams." They thought about that for a second.

"No," they both said simultaneously, looking back at each other.

"It sounds weird." Alfred said, making a face.

"Agreed." Matthew said. "Jones fits you much better."

Later, in the stables:

"Can I see your Tattoo?" Alfred said, sitting sideways on a silver horse a few feet off.

Matthew looked up from his own caramel-colored stallion to stare at his brother. "What?"

"Can I see your Tattoo?" he repeated.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just want to make sure you have one is all."

"Why wouldn't I have a Tattoo, Al?" he had come up with that nickname for his brother during breakfast, hoping that it would bother Alfred as much as 'Mattie' did for him. So far, the results were disappointing. "Everyone has a Tattoo, I'm no exception."

Alfred shrugged. "I was just wondering. Can I see it? Please? I've never seen a Diamond Tattoo."

"Oh, like you've seen a Spade, Heart and Club Tattoo already." Matthew scoffed. "Fine. Here." He walked over to Alfred and pulled down the back of his clothes to reveal a small bright yellow diamond on the upper left side of his back. He felt Alfred's fingers brush over the mark, tracing the diamond once before pulling away.

"What about you?" Matthew asked as he pulled his clothes back up. "Where's your Tattoo?"

As he turned back around, he saw the uncomfortable expression on Alfred's face and was surprised. After all, it was just a Tattoo. Even if it was in an unfavorable place on his body, Alfred really didn't have anything to hide from Matthew. Technically speaking, they had the same body even if their Tattoos weren't in the same place.

Alfred opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment the servant that Matthew had seen the other day- Toris he thought Alfred called him- came rushing in going on about food for the banquet that night and something about cloth, and Alfred had to leave quickly in order to help him out.

Matthew was fine about Alfred not being rich or a noble. Or even a Number for that matter. Alfred was still his brother, regardless of his status or what he had done to have been brought to Spades. Francis refused to tell him about why Alfred was in Spades, but he had told Matthew to keep a close watch on his brother for the time being until they left again for Diamonds. Matthew, who had already missed over a decade and a half of Alfred's life, was only too happy to comply.

Of course, that meant enduring more of Alfred's questions. Some of them were simple, easy. What's your favorite color? Purple. What's your Number? Two. What's Diamonds like? Wonderful, flashy and beautiful. Matthew hoped to bring Alfred back to Diamonds with him one day, if Francis and England allowed him to. He would love to show Alfred around the gardens with its metal flowers, and he really wanted to give him a taste of what good food was. Not that Spades food was awful, but it wasn't…well, it wasn't Diamonds food. Alfred had never even tasted pancakes until Matthew made them the next day after they had met.

"What are these things called again?" Alfred experimentally poked one of Matthew's masterpieces with his fork.

"Pancakes," Matthew said, beaming. "And they taste best with loads of maple syrup on them." He placed a jug of the stuff in front of Alfred and looked at him expectantly.

Instead Alfred asked, "What's maple syrup?"

Matthew had been horrified, to say the very least.

There were other times though, when Matthew barely understood his brother at all. Alfred was occasionally quiet, pensive even. He would stare off into space for long periods, not saying a word, and then he would disappear. No one would know where he was until he showed up at mealtimes. At least that was one thing you could count on; Alfred never missed mealtimes.

Matthew had tried many times to find the 'study' where he and Alfred had made their deal, but he could never find it on his own. Alfred was able to re-find it no problem, however. He and Matthew spent several afternoons that week in the field, passing back and forth questions while Alfred read some more from the notebooks he had found. Matthew liked to pick the flowers and weave them into crowns; much like Francis had done for Lili. By the end of the week, both he and Alfred had several necklaces hanging in their rooms.

It was so calm and peaceful; the kind of life Matthew always wanted. It was too bad that things couldn't stay this way forever.

-o0o-

Alfred had been put on watch. He had realized this about halfway through the week, when he had noticed two burly soldiers glaring at him from across the Castle grounds. At first he had thought that it was just a coincidence; why would he be followed by armed men, besides the obvious reason that he was an enemy of the state? But the men had trailed him everywhere he went, it didn't matter where. In the Stables they were leaning against the doorway, waiting for him to leave. In the hallways, they walked behind him and Toris trying not to get in other's ways. In the Kitchens, they stared at him while he ate.

That left only one option left to Alfred; try to evade these new shadows at all costs.

It became a new and fun hobby to practice when he wasn't busy helping Toris or trying to find Mattie and ask him more questions. It was fairly easy too especially since Alfred was alone and the soldiers always stayed in pairs throughout their entire shift. Alfred could effortlessly duck in between people and small places while the soldiers were too tall and bulky to do the same. It was a simple matter to get lost in a crowded room and then run out when his watchers weren't paying attention.

"I don't get it, why do I need a guard?" Alfred complained to Matthew after he had gotten away from the soldiers for the millionth time. They were in the field again during the morning, enjoying the peace of the place. "I've never done anything wrong; I've listened to England! And seriously, I spend almost all of my time with Toris anyways. Why would England suddenly get a bunch of annoying soldiers to babysit me?"

Matthew hummed thoughtfully, playing with the purple and blue flowers. "Maybe it had something to do with Francis?" he suggested. "Whatever you did before to be brought here, Francis obviously thinks is going to have a serious affect on Diamonds. Maybe he wants you to be watched so that you don't do whatever you did again or something?"

"I really doubt it," Alfred stared up at the sky, scowling. As far as he knew, the only 'crime' he had committed was saving his friends' lives. A though occurred to him. "Wait, he hasn't told you why I'm here yet?"

"No. I may be his younger brother-"

"Adopted younger brother," Alfred corrected. He had only just learned that he had a twin; he quite wasn't willing to share just yet, even if Francis was the King. Matthew was his sibling, not Francis'. Francis was just a friend, like Kiku was.

Matthew smiled softly, and then continued. "-I may be close to Francis, but that doesn't mean I'm an exception to the way the Kingdoms work. I'm not the Queen, I'm just a Number. I have no right to know about the situation if my King does not want to tell me."

Alfred stared. "You are way too goodie-goodie, you know that?" he said. Matthew laughed but didn't take back what he had said. That was one thing Alfred liked about him; Matthew was calm and liked to appease others, but he would never waver from something he truly believed in. And following Diamonds was defiantly something he believed in.

"So," he spoke again, interrupting the quiet atmosphere. "Today is your last day."

Matthew went still, his hands frozen on the petals. It was a topic they had been avoiding; neither willing to discuss what would happen when they were separated.

"Yeah, it is." Matthew said.

"I was wondering- I mean, there's this party thing-" Alfred started to say.

"I know about the banquet tonight." Matthew said. "It's mandatory that I go, all of the nobles have to attend, remember? It's some sort of 'parting' party thing they do every time the Diamond Triumvirate visits Spades. I guess you wouldn't know, only being here for a few weeks-"

"I'm not talking about that!" Alfred said, rolling his eyes. "Gosh, who would want to go to some boring banquet? No way, man, I'm talking about the party that's going on in the Town."

This stopped Matthew short. "What?"

"Well, I heard from Toris that the townsfolk kind of do the same thing that the nobles do- just on a much smaller scale."

"What do you mean?"

"The townsfolk of Spades throw a huge festival thing in the village with all of the Diamond servants who aren't helping with the Royal banquet. It's the same idea as the other party; to celebrate the time they got to spend here together and stuff." Alfred shrugged. "A lot of the people in Spades are friends with the Diamonds even though they don't get to see each other that often. They want to have a night of fun before everyone goes home. Or at least, that's what Toris told me." He half-smiled at Matthew.

"So…you want me to come? But won't that conflict with the banquet?"

"No, not really. The Town party starts later; it's planned so that the two don't conflict. Can you come? Please? I don't want to go alone; I still don't know a lot of people besides Toris and Rica!" Alfred sat up and made puppy eyes at Matthew, knowing the other couldn't object.

"I-I-" Matthew stuttered. "Oh alright, I'll try, okay? I can't make any promises, but I'll try."

"Yay! Thank you Mattie, you're the best!" he flung his arms around his brother, almost crushing him.

"Alfred!" Matthew gasped. "I can't breathe!" Alfred automatically released him and backed away, looking apologetic.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"It's okay, but you need to be gentler sometimes." Matthew said with a sigh. He reached over to ruffle Alfred's hair and made to stand up.

"Where are you going?" Alfred asked, squinting up at him through his glasses.

"I have to go pack. Francis wants to leave first thing tomorrow."

"Oh," Alfred's face fell. "Okay. I guess I'll see you tonight then?"

Matthew smiled. "I said I'll try, right? If not, I'll make sure to find you tomorrow before we go. Okay?"

"Alright." Alfred sighed, disappointed. He stood up and hugged his brother one last time- just in case- before watching him vanish into the Castle.

Alfred sat back down and leaned against the tree, still reading the notebooks he had found earlier that week. The handwriting had been a challenge to read- it was in script. Who the heck wrote in script? - but eventually he had gotten used to it. The only problem now was actually trying to understand what the guy was writing about. Even now, the author was going on about some weird lengthy word that Alfred had never heard about before.

He sighed again, this time from annoyance. It was time for a trip to the Library.

-o0o-

Arthur still had trouble processing that a person like Alfred Jones- loud, clumsy, and completely manner less- was the Jack of Hearts. It just didn't make any sense. He never once acted like a Royal and it was driving Arthur crazy. Alfred had no respect for Arthur, though he did grudgingly give it when necessary, and liked to deliberately annoy Arthur simply for the sake of doing so.

Why else would Alfred continuously shake off the guards Arthur had assigned him? Did he want to make Francis mad at Arthur? It was all Francis' idea to have soldiers keep watch on Alfred to make sure he wouldn't run away from Spades. Arthur would have been fine leaving Alfred the way he had been for the last week, but it was the only way Francis would allow Alfred to stay under Spades protection.

However, if Alfred continued to trick his guards, Arthur was going to have a problem. Francis would insist in taking turns keeping Alfred away from Hearts, and that would mean…well, that would mean spending more time with that bloody Frog and Arthur wasn't going to put up with him any more than he already had to, damn it! Switching Alfred between Diamonds and Spades would just make Arthur's life harder. It was something he really didn't need or want.

Arthur needed to have another talk with the Jack of Hearts.

The search for Alfred Jones was much more difficult than it should have been for the Queen of Spades. Some of the servants claimed seeing him in the Kitchens preparing food after breakfast, while others swore they saw him running into the Stables just little over an hour ago. Alfred had been in neither of those places, much to Arthur's annoyance. He had stumbled into the soldiers who were supposed to be watching Alfred somewhere along the way. Then sometime around noon, he found Francis' 'Canada', Matthew Williams and Toris- the two people in Spades who probably knew Alfred best- talking in the hallway outside the Throne Room.

"Your Majesty," Toris said, bowing.

"Do you know where Alfred is?" Arthur snapped, getting right to the point.

"I- no, not at this moment-"

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"I was just with him a moment ago outside." The quiet teenager, Matthew, spoke up. "But I think he was leaving soon."

Arthur took in a measured breath, trying not to lose his temper. Francis would have his hide if he yelled at Matthew. "Do you know where he might be going to? Any information at all would be helpful."

"Did you check the Stables or the Kitchens-?"

"Yes, I've already been there."

"Then what about the Library?"

This stopped Arthur short. "The Library?"

"Yeah, he goes there sometimes to look up information on-" Matthew started to say, but Arthur was already stalking down the hallway.

The Library was packed, as usual. When Arthur asked around about Alfred, a group of teenagers pointed him towards the furthermost corner where the stories of the old legends were kept. This area was more deserted than any of the other sections, and Arthur wondered what had brought Alfred here. It hardly seemed like a place normal teenagers would go…

But then again, Alfred wasn't a normal teenager.

And there he was, curled up on a couch, head bent, and back towards Arthur. His blonde hair shone from the lamp light next to him, but he didn't look up at the sound of Arthur's footsteps. Was he too busy reading? Or was he ignoring Arthur on purpose?

"Alfred," Arthur said, trying hard not to fold his arms and look like a scolding parent.

The teenager jumped at the sound of his name, and twisted in his seat until he saw Arthur standing behind him. His surprised expression quickly soured. With a sigh, he slammed the thick book in his lap shut.

"What?" Alfred asked flatly.

Arthur scowled. "Really, is that anyway to address a Queen?"

"Well, you're not my Queen…" he mumbled quietly. Arthur raised his eyebrows.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing." Alfred said, sighing again. "What is it you need, Your Highness?"

"Much better," Arthur said. He walked around Alfred's chair and sat in the seat across from him so that the two were face-to-face. "I wanted to talk to you about your guards."

Alfred made a face. "You mean the slow and stupid idiots that would sooner watch me die than protect me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you haven't been assigning the nicest people to watch me." Alfred said, crossing his arms. "Did you even pay attention to who you gave the job to?"

"I don't see why it should matter." Arthur replied, confused.

"Some of the 'guards' are the soldiers that attacked me and my friends at Alhliða. Do you really think that they're going to be nice to me after that?"

"Have they done anything to you?" Arthur asked, quickly scanning the other over. He didn't look hurt or bruised at all.

"Not yet," Alfred said venomously. "But I'll bet you anything that they will if you keep forcing them to stalk me for hours at a time."

"It's not stalking." He replied coolly. "And they won't do anything to you, I promise. They have already sworn not to tell others of your identity. I will make sure they will not harm you as well."

"Why do I even need guards?" Alfred whined. "It's not like I've done anything wrong."

"Francis wants to make sure that you won't go sneaking off back to Hearts in the middle of the night without my knowing." Arthur said skeptically. He watched as shock crossed Alfred's face, followed quickly by a flush of anger.

"I wouldn't do that!" Alfred's voice started to rise in volume. "I promised you that I wouldn't try to escape-!"

"Inside voices, Alfred." Arthur interrupted. "We are in a Library. And yes, I know I have your word. But Francis can be stubborn when he wants to be."

Alfred slumped back in his seat, looking depressed. "This is so stupid. I don't want guards-"

"And yet, you shall have them. I am here to tell you to stop resisting them. The soldiers are just doing what is asked of them, and I would appreciate it if you would stop making their jobs harder."

"Or else, what?" Alfred asked. "You'll lock me up in the dungeons or something? Torture me?"

Arthur grit his teeth. He could never imagine torturing Alfred, or even locking him away for that matter. He was too…bright. Too lively. Sending him to the dungeons would most likely crush his spirits, destroy his character. No, he could never do that. Just the thought of it was disgusting.

"Why can't you just behave?" he snapped instead of voicing his true feelings. "I'm trying to help you."

Alfred snorted. "Why is it that don't I believe you?"

"What will make you do as I say?" Arthur asked, running his hands through his hair with frustration. "Is there anything I can do to make you listen to me? Anything at all?"

He had spoken out of frustration and anger, but when he wasn't immediately met with a reply, he was surprised to see Alfred actually considering what he had said.

"How 'bout this, England," Alfred said slowly. "Let's make another deal."

Arthur winced at the other's poor grammar- really, it was 'about'. There was no such thing as ''bout'- but overlooked it for the time being. "What kind of deal?" he asked warily.

"The kind where we both get what we want."

A pause.

"I'm listening."

"I'll make you a bet," Alfred said, leaning forward. "That I can shoot the same mark on a target three times in a row, without any practice. If I can't, you can assign whatever guards you want on me and I won't try to avoid them."

"And if you win?" Arthur asked.

Alfred grinned, the first real smile Arthur had seen on him since arriving in Spades, even if it was slightly mischievous. "If I win, I get to choose the guards that watch me. I still won't try to avoid them, but that way I'll trust them more than the ones now."

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Is that all?" As of now, it sounded like a fair deal. He had been meaning to find out if a Heart's shooting skill was really as good as their King claimed, and this was the perfect way to do it.

"Oh, and you have to come to a party with me." Alfred added in.

Arthur chocked. "What?"

"Don't worry, it won't be anything big. It's just a little celebration thing in the Town later tonight-"

"I have the banquet, in case you forgot!" Arthur squeaked. The last time he had been to a party with non-royal folk it had been at the Gathering- and both he and Alfred knew how that ended. Plus, he didn't like socializing. He hated dancing. The Gathering had been the only time he had actual fun at a party. Why didn't Alfred understand that?

"Well, yeah, duh." Alfred rolled his eyes. "This party's after the banquet. It won't interfere with your Queenly duties or whatever it is you do."

Arthur was quietly seething, thinking hard to see if there was any other way to get Alfred to obey him. There was none.

"If I do this, you will listen to me?" he finally asked.

"I'll try harder." The teenager said with a grimace.

They stared at each other for a moment, both trying to see if the other was bluffing or not.

"Fine, I accept your deal." Arthur said and a radiant smile lit up Alfred's face. "But I get to choose the target and the weapon you use to shoot!"

"Sure, I'll take anything you throw at me, Queenie." Alfred said cheerfully as they stood up.

"Do not, call me Queenie." Arthur glared at him over his shoulder, leading the way out of the Library. "I hate that name."

"What should I call you then?" Alfred asked, skipping along next to him.

"Anything but that." Arthur muttered, receiving another grin from the bouncy teenager.

The servants stared at the pair as they meandered through the Library, but Arthur purposefully ignored them. It was an odd sight to see- a Queen and a new servant strutting around the Castle- but that was only because he had been so busy lately. First with the Gathering, then the meeting with the Hearts Triumvirate, and finally Francis' lot. He hadn't had any time to relax- though he doubted he would with the tensions between Spades and Hearts right now- but this thing he was doing with Alfred was…nice. He wasn't worrying about anything else right now. For the moment he could breathe.

"Why do you want me to go to a party with you, of all things to choose from?" Arthur spoke up again as they reached the Training Area. Alfred looked back at him with a frown.

"Well," he said thoughtfully. "You're the Queen, so you're probably used to formalities and such."

"So?" Arthur asked defensively. Were formalities such a bad thing? "What about it?"

Alfred shrugged. "I kinda want to see how you act around your citizens. Like how you treat them and how they respond to you. I want to know what type of Queen you are."

While Arthur sputtered in shock, he added, "Also, we had fun at the last party we went to together. I want to know if we can still be like that. You know, just Alfred and just Arthur." He looked back at the Queen with such a rueful expression that Arthur felt his face go slack.

"But, anyways, that's not the point." Alfred said, stopping. They had reached the Shooting Range. "The whole idea of this is to see if I can impress you or not with my awesome skills."

Arthur scowled, his irritation returning. "You think that you will impress me just by shooting a few arrows straight?"

Alfred smiled. "I guess we'll see, eh?" he nodded at the large storage house that held the different types of weapons. "Go ahead, pick one."

Arthur glared at him once more before turning away. With his back towards Alfred, he entered the storage house and took his time choosing which weapon the other would have to use. He couldn't make it that easy for him, now could he? No, the weapon would have to require skill to use properly. Alfred looked like the kind of person who would have the easiest time fighting while swinging around a huge club. So that meant Arthur would need to find something lightweight, something that Alfred would be unfamiliar with.

Arthur stopped in front of a wall covered with weapons that were used for far distance fighting. There were several fake guns loaded with wooden bullets and bulky rocket shooters on wheels, but none of those seemed right. Instead, Arthur chose a simple metal bow and three feathered arrows. He ran his fingers over the smooth iron, remembering all of the times he had practiced with this very bow. It had taken him ages to master the weapon- it was made by the fairies with magic. When used correctly, a flash of blue light would linger in the arrow's path, destroying everything in its way. It was a deadly weapon. Few could use it because few had magic. Arthur was one of the few. Alfred, however, wasn't.

He almost felt guilty, choosing this weapon when it was clear that Alfred would not be able to shoot with it. However, he needed Alfred to listen to him and there was no way that he was going to attend some bloody party after dealing with Francis for another night.

"You took your time." Alfred called out to him as Arthur walked back.

"I had to choose a good weapon, didn't I? I couldn't make it that easy on you." Arthur grumbled, shoving the bow and arrows into Alfred's hands.

"Huh, this is…nice." He examined the bow, his brow furrowing.

"You think so?" Arthur waved over a nearby servant and said, "Get a Pendulum* ready, alright? Set it up about, oh, forty-five feet away. "

"Forty-five?" Alfred echoed as the servant scurried away. "That's kind of far, don't ya think?"

"Its 'you' not 'ya', but yes. It is far. But you are the one who let me decide the weapon and what target."

"That's mean," Alfred complained. "You're not playing fair."

"I don't have to play fair," Arthur responded. "I'm the Queen, remember?"

Alfred stuck out his tongue at him and Arthur gaped.

"Don't be a child, Alfred!" he said testily.

"I'm not a child!" Alfred said, pouting. "But, uh, what's a Pendulum?"

"Oh. I forgot you didn't know; everyone here practices with it but I suppose you wouldn't know being from Hearts. It's a circular piece of wood that hangs from a metal bar and it swings back and forth while soldiers shoot at it. Much like a pocket watch would if you hold it by its chain."

Alfred twitched slightly at the word 'pocket watch' but nodded his consent. "That's cool. Sounds kinda hard to hit, though."

"It is," Arthur said, smiling evilly and Alfred glowered at him. "Lucky for you, you get to try it out first hand."

"Yeah, lucky me." Alfred said sarcastically.

"Your Majesty," the servant said, trotting back over to the pair. "It is up."

"Excellent! Thank you, William." Arthur said cheerfully. The servant nodded and left them.

"So, there it is." Arthur said to Alfred, and pointed at the Pendulum on the other side of the Area. It stood nearly a house high, and the circular piece of wood (called 'Bull's eye') was about the size of a carriage wheel close up, but from this distance it looked more similar to a coin. The Bull's Eye swung lazily right, and then left, never pausing or slowing down. It would take true skill and honest practice to be able to even hit the wood, much less the small black dot at its center.

Alfred looked more nervous now that he saw what he was up against. "I'm supposed to hit the wood?"

"Oh, no. That would be too simple. You, dear boy, are supposed to hit the very, very small black dot in the middle of the wood; the center of its diameter. Understand?" Arthur said.

"O-okay," the teenager frowned, squinting at the Bull's Eye.

"Have you ever used a bow and arrow before, Alfred?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah," he said to Arthur's surprise. "A few times. Kiku liked to use it more than I did, though."

Anger flared up inside of him at the mention of the Queen of Hearts. "Well," he said, slapping Alfred's back maybe a little too hard. "Best of luck to you."

"Thanks," Alfred said, wincing. "I'll try my best."

"Ready when you are, lad." Arthur took a few steps back and folded his arms, waiting for Alfred to use the bow. This was going to be interesting. When he missed the first time, this would all be over. All Arthur had to do now was wait.

A good number of people had started to linger in the Shooting Area, watching the encounter between the Queen and the servant with curiosity. A few were even motioning between Alfred and the Pendulum, explaining to the others what was going on.

Alfred on the other hand, ignored everyone. As soon as Arthur had stepped away, a look of pure concentration had crossed his face and he started to test the bow's flexibility and measure out its weight using his hands. He didn't pay attention to the growing crowd, or Arthur standing a few feet away. He was entirely focused on the bow and arrows.

After a few minutes, Alfred took a measured breath and drew an arrow. The crowd hushed, quieting so that no one spoke, and even Arthur had to lean forward in anticipation. Everyone held their breath, waiting to see what would happen. This was more than just a simple bet, Arthur realized. This was a test. A test to see how good Alfred really was in military standards, using a weapon and given a challenge he had never faced before. This was a chance for him to prove himself to Arthur Kirkland, the Queen of Spades.

Alfred let out an even breath, and released the first arrow.

There was a brilliant flash of blue light, illuminating the entire area around it, and the arrow streaked through the air fast as lightning. It flew across the Shooting area in less than a second and with a soft thud wedged itself deeply into the exact center of the swinging Bull's Eye.

The silence lasted for about five seconds, and then the people watching were cheering and clapping, and Arthur was standing there, frozen, mouth hanging open, unable to understand what had exactly happened-

And there was Alfred, still as stone, standing with both arms hanging in the air, one having just released the arrow and the other clutching the magical bow. He didn't look relieved or even surprised at the burst of light that had trailed after his arrow. He still had that look of concentration on his face, knowing that he had another two arrows before he was finished.

The crowd became silent once again as Alfred took the second bow- someone had removed the previous one from the Bull's Eye- but Arthur's mind was racing. How could Alfred use the bow? How? You needed magic to work the bow, and shooting an arrow over forty feet was no mean feat. Did Alfred have magic? And how did he shoot exactly in the center of a moving target? He said that he had only used a bow a few times! Had he lied?

Arthur was so shocked that he almost missed the shooting of the second arrow. But then the whole place was covered by the light blue glow, and- yes, there it was. The flash of magic raced after the arrow, making a straight line hovering in the air for a moment before dissipating. Arthur felt a thrill of fear stir within him; if anyone, or anything for that matter, had been grazed by that simple line, they would've been blown to smithereens.

The crowd was cheering and screaming again, which could only mean one thing. Arthur focused on the second arrow, which had also lodged itself firmly into the center of Bull's Eye.

How was this possible?

He stared at Alfred, numb. He was a child! Not even an adult, yet he was able to use one of the most difficult and deadly weapons of Spades with ease. Were all Hearts citizens like this? Or was it because he was the Jack? If that was true, what damage could the Queen or the King do? Arthur's head was pounding. How could he win a war against a Kingdom like that?

Alfred was loading the third arrow, his blue eyes narrowed against the setting sun, and that was when it happened.

One moment, he was just plain and simple Alfred, wearing servant clothes and wielding a metal bow. The next, he was dressed in a long blue jacket and brown pants. Underneath the coat was a dark vest and tie. The clothes were clean and simple in design, yet expensive in material; they were the clothes of a noble. In his right hand- the one that should have held the bow- was a silver gun. The left hand was clenched around something small and gold; a chain wrapped itself around his fingers. His hair was a glowing caramel color, and the sunlight was catching on a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose, causing them to turn white and hide Alfred's startling blue eyes. Arthur gaped. Alfred- he- he looked like- like a-

He looked like a Royal.

The third arrow shot through the air, destroying the illusion. Arthur winced, and closed his eyes against the blinding blue. He felt the rush of air as it passed him, and as good as felt the arrow hit the mark when the resounding thud echoed around the clearing.

He had done it. Alfred had hit the same mark three times in the exact same place.

The cheers were deafening. The crowd was clapping and whistling, some were even screaming. They all rushed forward, like a giant tidal wave, engulfing Alfred. His strange detached expression had disappeared, and now he was accepting their thanks with a bashful laugh. He looked up at the last second and caught Arthur's eye.

Alfred's face could have probably split in two with the grin he gave Arthur. It was almost blinding, really. Arthur felt anger rise up in him once more, the last of his awe leaving him. He glared at Alfred, furious with the teenager, furious at the bow for working against him, furious at himself for making the stupid deal with Alfred in the first place. Now he was going to have to go to that bloody party tonight.

Finally the crowd left, and Alfred jogged back over to Arthur's side, still smiling with glee.

"I thought you said that you had only used a bow a few times," Arthur was able to ground out.

"It's true!" Alfred protested. "I wasn't lying to you, Artie."

Arthur froze.

"What," he said quietly. "Did you just call me?"

"Artie?" Alfred repeated, hesitant at the look on Arthur's face. "I'm guessing you don't like it that much…"

"Why did you call me that?" Arthur said calmly.

"'Cause you said that you didn't like it when I called you 'Queenie'" Alfred said. "And then you said I could call you anything but 'Queenie' so I came up with 'Artie' instead. Personally I think it's better than 'Art' but maybe that's just me-"

Arthur buried his face in his right hand, his cheeks flaming red, and held up his other so that Alfred would stop speaking. "Don't call me 'Art', either."

"So I can call you 'Artie' then?" Alfred asked hopefully.

"No," he said coldly, turning away from the teenager.

"O-okay, then. I'll see you later tonight! For the party, remember?" Alfred called after him.

Arthur sent another murderous glare over his shoulder and stalked out of the Shooting Range, Alfred's laughter echoing after him.

-o0o-

"In life, people sometimes make rotten deals."  
Jeanne Calment  
-o0o-

Background Information:

*The Pendulum literally means what the word sounds like. I don't really know any other way to explain it then how I already did, but if you still don't understand just look it up on Google images. Picture that, just much bigger.


End file.
